Kingdom Hearts Sound of Rising Storm
by Chris Talonflight
Summary: SEQUAL TO KINGDOM HEARTS NOTHING IS SACRED. The Fourth installment of my Kingdom Hearts sieries. Chris is awakend by his nobody from his year long sleep, but with the timeline of Kingdom Hearts totally screwed, how will he defeat the Organization?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: Xsirch: the Stranger

Noticing my hunger, I jogged downstairs. _Nothing good in the fridge. Oh well, might as well get the group together._ I dialed a number on his cell phone. "Hey, Pence, what's up?"

My friend, named Pence, replied over the noise of his stereo. "Hey Xsirch, I'm just chilling with Hayner here. Did you hear about his friend? She's pretty cute."

"I'll see about that when I get there." I looked out the window.

As I jogged down the city streets, I noticed a distinct absence of noise. Pure silence. I liked quiet as much as the next person, but something about the silence was oppressive. _Why is it so silent? Twilight Town should always have some noise…_ I was intensely glad I had taken karate classes, even though when I put up my hood I looked so much like a serial killer that people were scared to mess with me. I was wearing a black and grey camouflage zippered sweater, dark grey jeans, black sneakers, white gloves that left my fingers bare, and a black and white camouflage headband with the name Xion on it. I assumed it was the brand name, but I just couldn't remember where I got it from.

I nearly rammed the door open to Pence's apartment. Pence was fiddling with his radio, while Hayner and a girl were talking animatedly while playing Call of Duty 4 co-op campaign.

"Seriously?" I asked as I sat down. "I keep on dying on this part. I wish I had the launcher; it's a pain taking out a chopper with small arms fire."

I notice the girl. I held out my hand. "I'm Xsirch. Also known as Talonflight by these weird people." I said jokingly. I turned my attention once more to the screen. "I wish I was in there."

"I'm kind of glad I'm not." Hayner said. "I don't have a death wish because I have never fired a gun in real life."

"Oh, by the way, have you guys heard about the new mod for Call of Duty?" Pence asked.

"Dude, EVERYONE knows about it. You've told us all at least five times." I teased. I looked outside. "Mind if I crash here for tonight? I'm too lazy to walk back home."

"Dude, you're the most in shape of any of us. You have no right to say you're too lazy." Pence laughed it off.

"Well, I'm gonna crash." I headed for Hayner's room, glancing back occasionally to look at Olette. I threw myself onto the bed, and tried to sleep.

_They're good guys, my friends are… good guys…_ I fell into oblivion.

I started bolt upright. I flipped out of Hayner's bed and stood. I had been asleep for a mere half-hour, but I had just had a strange dream.

_Weird._ I thought. Shrugging it off, I went downstairs.

Pence and Olette watched as Hayner raised his foam bat to the air in a victory pose. Another teen with blue hair walked dejectedly away, dragging his foam bat with him.

"Ha-ha! I knew I was the best at Struggle!" Hayner shouted. Olette smiled.

"Way to go, Hayner!" Olette laughed.

"Yeah, you sure showed Kayo who is boss!" the Pence complimented. Hayner smirked and spun his foam bat.

"Hey guys!" I waved and caught up with them. "Trying to practice Struggle without me, huh?"

"Well, look who is it, fellas," another voice growled. Hayner and the rest of us turned to see a tall teenager with a black beanie cap on his head, some grey strands of hair, white jeans, and a matching vest with a blue muscle shirt beneath. Behind the teen was a large, muscular male with black hair, tan pants, and an orange shirt. Next to him was a girl with grey hair, menacing red eyes, tan jeans, and a purple shirt. Hayner's face was immediately disgusted upon their arrival.

"Seifer," I growled. The man in the beanie just returned with an even darker gaze.

"Xsirch, Hayner, Pence, and Olette," Seifer, the man in the beanie, responded, purposely pronouncing my name "zirch" instead of its normal "serk" sound. "What are you four doing in our sandlot?"

"Yeah, Seifer's right, y'know!" the large man reiterated.

"Trespassing," the girl added, emotionlessly. Pence just sighed, and Olette, put her hands on her hips.

"This is everybody's sandlot, Seifer!" I yelled at him. Seifer just grinned, getting a foam bat of his own out.

"Well, that's not very polite. After all, you can't talk to the head of the Twilight Disciplinary Committee like that," Seifer chuckled. "Maybe a little Struggle will put you runts in your place."

"Fine! Bring it, Seifer!" Hayner growled, getting his own foam bat ready for combat. Pence and Olette moved back to the wooden benches to watch, while the large man and his female accomplice stayed where they were. Seifer and Hayner were the only two in the sandlot, with Seifer cockily pointing his foam bat at Hayner. Hayner had his foam bat in his right hand, spinning in a circle while lightly moving left to right on his feet, signaling his eagerness to battle.

"No." I held my arm out. "I'll do it."

"You're gonna lose to Seifer, y'know!" the man, Rai, shouted.

"Futile," the girl added on.

"You know, I might go easy on you if you get on your knees and beg for mercy," Seifer chuckled.

"Get real!" I growled, snatching Hayner's foam bat before charging at Seifer. Seifer jumped into the air, pointing his foam bat downwards.

"ISN'T THIS ROMANTIC!" Seifer shouted as he lunged in midair towards me. Hayner, with Pence and Olette cheering for me, gave me the thumbs up.

I blocked Seifer's hit, and began whaling on him profusely. I only needed to hit him six times, and he already gave up.

"Way to go, Xsirch!" Pence called. I turned and got a camera flash in my face.

"Hey!" I yelled. I was about to start chasing Pence to get my picture when a strange thing happened.

A white thing, human in shape at first glance, whisked in front of Pence, snatched his camera, and whisked away again, heading down the street.

"Hey!" I yelled. "After him!" We all charged down the street, even Seifer and his gang. I grabbed my skateboard from the street and skated after it. As expected, I outran the others. When I looked back, Seifer had stopped with his people, watching me disappear. Hayner was the only one of my group still running: Olet wasn't that fast and Pence was out of shape.

The strange white creature fled the town through a small hole in the wall just big enough for me to crawl through. I followed it into the woods. It emerged at the old mansion. The old mansion was a mansion that was far out in the woods. It had been there for as long as any of us could remember, in its dilapidated state. I walked cautiously up to it. I still carried my foam bat. If worst came to worst, I could defend myself with that. The white figure suddenly spoke in a strange voice.

"We have been waiting for you, master." The figure suddenly lashed out, giving me a cut on my hand. I swung my bat at it. The figure was pushed back, but it hadn't been hurt in the least. It continued to attempt to harm me, but my reflex's were faster then it's attacks. I managed to evade it. After attempting to retaliate with my foam bat, I realized that nothing I could do would harm that creature.

Suddenly, in a flash of technological digits and numbers, a huge key appeared in my hand. I tentatively touched the edge. It was razor sharp! The key was as big as a sword, and it had a large handle. It was black, in the shape of a pair of bat wings furling up to a semicircle of black spikes. I lifted it. This was a good weapon!

I lashed out at the white thing. The creature dodged nimbly. On my second try, however, I managed to strike it a heavy blow, and it disintegrated into nothing.

_What was that? _I asked myself. Suddenly, in a flash of light, the key/sword disappeared.

_Weird… _ I thought. I grabbed Pence's camera and started walking back towards the town, baffled by what I had just encountered.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: Yuffie: Missing Memories

Someone had left behind their PS2 in Traverse Town. Just my luck. Now I had something to do all day, since I was no good at building things except weapons.

I slid in the disc for Kingdom Hearts II.

A while back, a friend of Leon's had shown up had arrived. He told us that these video games were actually a foretelling of what would happen in the future. Using these games, we had been able to stop the bad guys from taking control of a place called Kingdom Hearts. Now they had gone, leaving behind the video games that had turned out to be prophecy. Now we had them.

I in Traverse Town any longer. We had moved back to our old world as soon as it had been reclaimed from the Heartless: Hollow Bastion. We were now at work rebuilding the city that had been so cruelly destroyed after the Cataclysm. One exception: me. Little miss can't-build-buildings-to-save-her-life Yuffie Kisaragi Stromwind. What's a girl ninja to do?

The Cataclysm: the event that had separated the worlds. In the beginning, there had only been two worlds: Chris's world, and the Fantasy World. When the Cataclysm occurred, Darkness shattered the connections holding the Fantasy world together, resulting in the many worlds that now existed. It also shunted away our friend's world, Earth, and made our worlds a far off dream. And in time, a dream was all that they thought we were. My world, however, had not been part of the Fantasy World. We had lived in a universe far off from both of the other two worlds, but the Cataclysm had shattered both space and time, and had combined my entire Universe into what was now known as a world called Hollow Bastion.

I laughed silently. I remembered their face's when they saw me for the first time: they hadn't been sure if I was real or not!

The game loaded. We had already done everything that had occurred in Kingdom Hearts One, Kingdom Hearts RE: Chain of Memories, and Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. Now it was time to move on to what happened in chronological order: Kingdom Hearts 2. Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep did not concern our lifetimes, but heck, I still planned on playing it later anyway.

I sighed. _What was his name? who was he? I distinctly remember Rodney, C, Ashley, and our other friend David Frostmourne, as well as those guys Donald and Goofy. But there were two more… Who were they? I feel… a strange connection and emotion whenever I think of them. Who were they? _It was strange: we had seen them only a year ago, but

I pressed X to continue. I missed my video game partner, Rodney, and also my girly chats with Ashley, not to even mention C's guitar playing. Now that it was just Leon, Aerith, Tifa, Cid, Merlin, and I, things were… different. Maybe it wasn't the people. Maybe it was just me. I had changed quite a bit since meeting those people from Earth! Or Reality, as we used to call it.

My character, Roxas, was standing in a large plaza in a world with autumn-color-themed buildings. The place he stood in was a large arena type platform. In his hand was a blue foam bat. Across from him was an enemy in white: a Dusk nobody, as the instruction manual read. I never usually read those things, but for these games, I wanted all the information I could find.

I won in my battle against the group of white things. Then a man in a black coat appeared.

"All right, Roxas! Fight fight fight!" he clapped. He flipped down his hood, and I saw a man with spiky red hair and green eyes.

As I watched, I saw that my character, Roxas, was revealed to be the Keyblade's Chosen One, "Lucky Number Thirteen".

Roxas grew angry with the man because he refused to answer his questions, as well as trying to abduct him. I had to battle him.

_Shoot!_ I said to myself, as my character died again from the man's flame attacks. After four tries, I realized that I should have increased my defense before entering the battle, instead of merely skipping the battle game play by running away from all of the enemies in order to reach all of the storyline parts, and that was the reason that I was dying so easily.

Shutting off the game system, I wandered outside into town. As I meandered through the streets, I found myself at a canal. It was strange: I didn't remember there being a canal here. In a random thought, I ran back into my house, and wrote a letter.

I placed the letter in a corked bottle, and sent it out through the waters of the canal, floating to god knew where. I only had a feeling, that this letter was where it started. I was sure of it.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three: Xsirch: Struggle

The announcer went up to the platform. "Well, Today's competitors are: Xsirch, my personal favorite; DeWayne, the newcomer; Hayner, the quick thinking action lover; Seifer, the runner-up for the top; Setzer, the champion; and Vivi, the unexpected fighter."

"Xsirch! Hayner!" Olet, and Pence yelled.

"SEIFER!" several others yelled.

"VIVI!" two men called.

"SETZER!" a large group roared.

I faced off against DeWayne. We were using heavy, solid foam swords

Then he struck me so hard on the head I was seeing stars. I retaliated with a figure 8 combo. That brought a cheer from my friends. I blocked the next hit. He struck at me, and I dodged. I tried a counter attack, and scored. He tried to trip me, and I dodged it. I struck at him, and followed up with the figure-eight combo. At that moment, the timer ran out, and I was declared winner of my round.

Then it was Vivi against Seifer. It was a quick match. Seifer struck at Vivi and scored a light hit, but then Vivi struck at Seifer and almost knocked him out. That was the end of their match. As Seifer passed by me and Hayner, he told me something.

"Thrash him."

Vivi nearly did me in. I barely managed to block him, and kicked his feet out from under him. However, he slid fluidly out from my strike, and kicked me in my chest, knocking me to the ground. He slammed his foam bat into my stomach, knocking the wind out of me. I barely avoided a second hit. Instead, I rolled and slammed my bat into his groin. Vivi staggered, and collapsed.

Time stopped for everyone but me

Then a white thing came out of Vivi, the same type of thing that seemed to be stalking me recently. The creature spawned three more of itself.

"Again?" I yelled.

_Damn…_ I thought. Suddenly, the key-shaped blade appeared in my hands again.

"… Again?" I moaned. What was with all of these weird things happening.

One slashed at my feet, but I blocked it and countered with a slash. I slashed another creature in half with my Keyblade with one hit. I did my figure-eight combo and dispatched another. The last nobody tried to flee, but I threw my Keyblade after it and killed it that way. Suddenly, I became aware of a man approaching me from the side.

"All right, Roxas! Fight fight fight!" he clapped. He flipped down his hood, and I saw a man with spiky red hair and green eyes. When I didn't respond, he looked injured. "What? Don't recognize you old buddy Axel?"

"What the… Who are you?" I asked.

The man, Axel, looked around. "This town in his creation, right?" he asked rhetorically. "That means that we don't have time for a Q and A."

"Answer me." I said. The man looked at me despairingly.

"I don't know what's gotten into you…" he said, as circles of fire appeared around his hands, forming into a pair of spiked chakrams, "…but you're coming with me, conscious or not."

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!" I raged, throwing the keyblade down on the floor in frustration. The keyblade, however, immediately reappeared in my hands in a flash of darkness.

"Lucky number thirteen: Xsirch. The Keyblade's chosen one." The man muttered.

I saw that questioning would get me nowhere. This man's weapons identified him as an overt threat. I had to protect myself.

"All right, fine! You asked for it!" I said. I got ready to attack him.

"Well… that's more like it." Axel said.

Suddenly, a man in red and black appeared between us.

"Xsirch!" he said in a commanding tone of voice, "This man speaks nonsense!"

"Listen, you!" Axel yelled. "I'm not about to let the Organization hunt down Xsirch because they think he's a traitor!"

He blasted some flame at the figure, but it evaporated in a hiss when the figure activated an energy shield. Then the figure disappeared.

Suddenly I screamed out, "Hayner! Pence! Olet! "

Time was restored. The two men were gone.

Hayner entered the ring, as if nothing had happened.

"Hey Xsirch, what's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing… I've just got a lot on my mind." I said, masking my confusion at what had just happened.

Hayner unceremoniously slammed me in the head with the foam bat. I leapt back.

"I wont go easy on you." He smirked.

"Just make sure you can walk once I'm done with you." I snarled.

I ended up taking to the air. I ran up one of the light-poles, and jumped into the air. Hayner hurled his foam bat up at me, and I blocked it. He caught it, and when I landed we were at it hammer and tongs again. We went on like that for a long time, until we both were staggering around with exhaustion. Once we ended up back to back, peering around for each other. Then I struck with the last of my strength, and Hayner went flying. Then I fell and everything went black-

"You're finally awake."

I looked behind me. A beautiful girl was sitting behind me.

"My name is Sara." she said. "What's your name?"

"I'm Caris." I said. "Where am I?"

"You are in the tent of healing." She said. "You suffered from exhaustion when you finished fighting Roxas, and you got a deep cut on your shoulder when you fell. You won your match, but I would advise against fighting Setzer."

'Why?" I asked. "I feel fine now."

"When you fell, your left shoulder struck a piece of glass, and the shard was deeply imbedded in your shoulder. I have bandaged it, but more damage to it could get it infected. And that could mean complications. If I were you, I would forfeit the match." Sara explained.

"Well," I said, "A minor injury can't hold me back from combat."

"I wish it would." Sara said, a little sadly. "If you get sick with infection…"

"It's okay." I said. Why was she so concerned for my safety? "You're a healer?"

"Not really." Sara laughed. "I'm just here to earn some money. I sing. Would you like to hear me sing?"

"Okay." I said.

She began to sing. Her voice was like the finest music ever. The song was sad, and stirred something inside of me. Then the tune took a turn, and I recognized the song as one from my home!

When she finished, I spoke in a hushed voice. "Where did you hear that song?"

"A traveler taught it to me." Sara said. "She was from a faraway land called Earth. She said that it is in another world altogether."

Shrugging, I stood and dressed. I walked outside, and stepped up onto the platform. Hayner was practicing.

"Hey." I said.

"Oh, hey." Hayner said.

"I have decided to resign." I said. "Too great of a risk of infection. You'll be fighting Setzer."

Hayner opened his mouth to argue, but I silenced him.

"Look, I don't want to talk about it, okay?"

"Okay, if you're sure."Hayner said. "But you are better then me."

"No." I said. "I got lucky with one hit."

I stayed in the tent of healing all day, until Hayner, Pence, and Olette came to visit me.

"Here." Hayner tossed me a blue gem. "You deserve it! Don't try and argue! I'm not taking it back."

"Where did you get the gems?"

"I beat Setzer and these gems were the prize!" Hayner bragged. He held up a similar, but different colored gem.

Later that day, we went and sat on the clock tower. After talking about random nonsense, I left and tried to go to the Old Mansion. I wanted to search for clues about how that keyblade worked. However, on my way there, I was waylaid by a group of those white creatures. They tried to drag me away. However, I ran away. They followed me.

"Hey!" Seifer yelled as I ran past him. "Who are they?"

"I don't know." I said.

"Well, they've already crossed the line!" Seifer growled. "Find a weapon!"

I grabbed my foam bat, but I knew it was useless. Time stopped again, and the white things advanced upon me.

"Xsirch! Use the keyblade!" A female voice said. Then I saw a white hole in the sky, shaped like a segmented heart with a cross on the point of it. That was weird, because a moment ago there was nothing there. Then I saw a tendril of whiteness snake down, and it made a wide circle around me and the white creatures. Then I felt like I was falling, and I finally landed on a platform suspended over an abyss. On the floor of the platform, there was a picture of a teenager holding a black key-shaped sword. To his left was a group of circles, each with a face inside them. The first one was of a girl with short black hair and purple eyes, smiling happily, with a headband that seemed identical to the one I wore, except instead of the word "Xion" it said "Yuffie." Around her circle was the words "Yuffie Kisaragi Stromwind." The next face was of a teen with straight black hair, with a white-gold dash in it. He was smirking confidently, and in a line around his circle there were words saying: "C. Cruz Aquarius". The third face was of a man with a scar on his cheek. He seemed to be hefting a strange type of punching blade next to his face. Around his circle was the words "David Frostmourne." The next one was of a serious looking teen with longish hair and brown eyes, with a small lightning bolt tattoo on his face. His right eye seemed to be mechanical, and around his circle was "Rodney Castro Zeus". The last face was of a worried looking female face. Her lip was pierced, and she had purple eyes, like the first girl. Around her circle was "Ashley Lightbringer."The tiles making up the background of the pictures seemed to be black stained glass, and there was light shining through them, as well as a light far above that cast my shadow.

Around me hovered a sword, a mage's staff, and a knight's shield. I automatically gripped the sword. I knew no magic, and the shield would be useless. Then the other weapons disappeared, and a small stairway appeared, leading up. A group of the smaller white creatures walked forwards, and I fought them off.

I ran up the stairs. I reached an identical platform, but instead of the previous black background, there was a dark green background.

Here, a book, a magnifying glass, a whip, and a pair of glasses appeared. I picked up the book.

Another stairwell appeared, and I climbed again, until I arrived at the next, blue platform.

From my shadow emerged a huge heartless. I raised my sword from the black platform. Instantly, a mixture of light and darkness shot from it, striking the Heartless in the center of its chest. It faded into darkness. Another stair appeared.

A figure appeared. It turned around… What-

I faced a figure that looked just like me.

I readied my sword for combat. The other me raised an identical weapon. We hurled ourselves at each other. We tried to hack each other apart. _Slash, spin, block, duck, slash, uppercut, punch, dodge._ Neither of us was getting anywhere.

Suddenly, I was aware of a ticking timer. It was not in the Station, but in my mind. I knew without a doubt that if I did not escape soon, I wouldn't be escaping at all, but would go to join the others in the eternal fall from the top of the abyss. I hurled myself again at the other me. This time, I reached for the Xion headband that was wrapped around the head of the other me, just as it was on me. I pulled it off. I threw it over the edge of the Station. The other me did exactly the same thing as I, but its throw was muddled. In a flash, we were both at the edge of the Station, and then we were falling. On instinct, I lashed out with the sword, and caught the edge of the station, barely hanging onto it. The other me wasn't so lucky. He caught his headband, but missed the edge. He fell the eternal fall of those who could not escape the Station of Awakening, screaming. I clawed my way back to the top of the station, and replaced the Xion headband on my head_. _

I had started walking towards the doorway that had appeared, but suddenly I seemed to be moving at the speed of glue. The floor beneath me began cracking. I ran in what seemed to be slow motion, and seemed miles away from the door.

_Is this it? _I wondered. _Have I come all this way merely to be defeated by this final test? No… I will not allow it to end this way… not yet!_

I sprinted at the speed of glue for the doorway. I was almost there! I reached out and touched the door frame. My hand closed around the handle. I pulled the door open, and I started going inside, but the floor beneath me crumbled away. I fell, once again barely saving myself by grabbing the edge of the door. I pulled myself up, and fell through the door, into… the first platform. There was a small rock lying randomly on the platform. However, hovering up over the edge of the platform was a huge monster.

I hurled a rock, distracting the Monster while I got on the other side of it. Then the Monster snatched me up, and when it threw me up in the air, I struck at the 40-foot gargantuan figure. When I landed, I slashed up its legs. Then it went flying off the platform. In a swipe of its claw, the platform began flipping over and over. I was hurled off. I threw my weapon with all of my strength. My keyblade struck deeply in and stayed there. Then the giant Monster came flying back up towards the platform, and the airflow dragged me back to safety. I slid under another attack, and slammed my weapon into the monster's head. The monster gave a roar of pain before dissolving into white mist. A wave of light returned me to the normal world.

"What was that thing?" I asked myself.

_Something really weird has been happening lately. Dangerous, too._


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four: Xsirch: Namine

I approached my friends. I had had little sleep, and when I finally dropped off my sleep was filled with dreams of the teen in black with the black keyblade and his little shadow heartless.

"Hey guys…" I said as I approached Hayner, Pence, and Olette, "You aren't gonna believe what happened yesterday…" I placed my hand on Hayner's back to let him know it was me. My hand reached his back-

-and kept going.

My hand went straight through Hayner as if he was a hologram. Hayner and the rest didn't even notice. In fact, after finishing talking with the others, they all walked away, oblivious to my existence. Olette walked right through me, as if I didn't exist.

"So you finally know."

I whirled. There, behind me, was Axel, leaning on a wall. Axel lifted his hand, and a portal of darkness formed.

"You coming?" He asked.

"Axel…" I muttered.

"You remember me?" he said hopefully. "Wait though, I gotta make sure… what was the name of our employer?"

I stayed silent. I certainly did remember this man, but obviously not in the way he hoped.

"Hmph…" the man shook his head sadly. "You really have lost it, haven't you? Sorry, but I gotta do this." He lifted his hands, and a group of white creatures advanced upon me.

Suddenly, time stopped. Axel and his white creatures were frozen in time as well.

"Xsirch!" a voice called from seemingly nowhere. "To the mansion!"

Not having any other idea, anywhere away from this guy Axel seemed like a good idea.

When I arrived at the gates of the mansion, the strange keyblade appeared in my hand again. I noticed a keyhole in the gate. As I pointed my oversized key at it, I saw a beam of light shoot out towards it. The gate opened soundlessly.

A white creature ran at me from behind. _Oh no! Time must have restarted! _However, before it reached me, a man in a black cloak with its hood up rammed a spiked sword into the face of the white creature. The rest of its group hesitated before attacking him. The man pointed towards the mansion. I understood.

I ran into the mansion. Here, it was quiet. I opened a random door, and found myself in a completely white room. Tacked to the walls were crayon drawings. In the middle of the room was a long white table. At the far end of the room was a girl in a one-piece baby blue dress, with flawless white skin and long blonde hair. She stared into my eyes.

"Hello, Xsirch." She said. I recognized her voice as the voice from when I had been attacked by the white creatures and ended on in the platforms suspended over the abyss. She seemed genuinely happy to see me.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I'm Namine." She said. "Nice to meet you."

In the awkward silence, I began looking around at the drawings. One was of a city, with a large building with a pointed top. I looked at the next one. It was of the first girl from the platform, the one with the "Yuffie" headband and the purple eyes.

"Xsirch." Namine started to say something.

"yes Namine?" I answered. Then another drawing caught my eye.

"This is… me?" I asked. "And… Axel's here too."

"You are best friends." Namine explained.

"Very funny." I retorted.

"Don't you want to know the truth?" Namine asked me. "About who you really are?"

"No one knows me better then me."

Namine smiled slightly. "Of course."

"But…" I continued. "I don't get what's been happening lately." I walked to look at another drawing. There, was the teen from the big picture on the platform, the one with the keyblade that I sometimes held. With him was the shadow heartless, and another man in a coat.

"You know these three, don't you?" Namine asked gently.

"Yeah…" I said, as more of my dream from last night came back to me. "Chris, Nudge, and Ansem. They're from that dream."

"About a year ago, some things happened," Namine spoke softly, "And I had to take apart the memories chained together in Chris's heart. But now, I'm putting them all back exactly the way they were. It's taken me a long time… but soon, Chris will be back to his old self again. The process has been affecting you too, Xsirch."

"You mean… the dream?" I asked.

"Yes. You and Chris are connected. And, in order for Chris to become completely whole again, he needs you."

"Me? What for?" I asked.

"You hold half of what he is." She said softly. "He needs you, Xsirch."

"Namine… Who are you?" I asked.

"I'm a witch, with power over Chris's memories and those around him." She said bluntly.

"A witch?" I asked, incredulous.

Namine nodded. "That's what DiZ called me. But, I don't know why I have this power. I just do. I'm not even sure if there's a right way for me to use it."

"Hmm… I can't help you there." I said, attempting to lighten the mood. Namine smiled at that, and we sat there for a long while, staring into each other's eyes.

"It's funny." I said. "Suddenly I feel as if I don't know myself at all." I paused. "I guess I would like to know. What do you know about me, that I don't?"

"You…" Namine seemed pained suddenly. "You were never supposed to exist… Xsirch."

I was stunned. "What? How could you even say such a thing? Even if it were true?"

"I'm sorry." She said. "I guess some things really are better left unsaid."

Suddenly, the figure in black and red burst into the room. "Namine! What is holding things up?" then he espied me. "Go, nobody. Do what you were intended to do."

A dark portal opened at the far end of the room. The man in the black cloak appeared from it.

"DiZ, I can't hold them any longer! There's too many! We have to start it now!" He said.

DiZ nodded, and opened a dark portal. HE grabbed Namine, and started dragging her away.

"Wait!" I called. "Namine!"

"Don't be afraid, Xsirch! You won't disappear! You must merge with Chris, so you can be whole too!" She called. "We will meet again! Even if I don't know its you, and you don't know it's me. We will. I promise." Then she was pulled through, leaving me alone with the figure in the cloak. The man pointed down the hall. I went there. There, at the end of the hall, I found a table, with a strange insignia on it. There were several point also located on it. Suddenly, as if my hand was moving on its own, I connected the dots, and the floor disappeared. I fell through, and I landed in a chamber with a single hallway leading down. I walked down the hallway, and found myself at a bank of computers.

Memories flooded me.

I screamed in fury.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five: Xsirch: Merge

I was not Xsirch, the resident of Twilight Town, the friend of Hayner, Pence, and Olette, the happy teenager on summer break from school. No. I was the former member of the secret society of Nobodies, Organization XIII, the former best friend of Axel, member XIII of the organization, the Keyblade's Chosen One, the Wielder of Darkness, and the nobody of Chris Talonflight.

I had been manipulated. In my fury, I smashed my keyblade down into the computer bank.

I stalked out of the room in a fury. Of all the people I had met, only Namine had told me the truth.

When I exited the room, I found myself in a circular arena. There, across from me, stood Axel.

"Simply amazing, Xsirch." Axel said sadly. "Got it memorized?"

"Axel!" I said.

"So you really do remember me this time?" he said. He said.

I nodded.

"I'm so FLATTERED!" he screamed, causing a circle of flames to burst into being around the edges of the arena.

"But your too late!" he yelled.

I had no choice but to fight.

I summoned a simple white keyblade in my left hand. Inscribed in the shaft in blood red letters was the word "Order." In my right hand I summoned a simple black keyblade, with the word "Chaos" on the shaft in the same color.

"Two?"Axel said, slightly surprised. Then he places his hands out to the sides. A circle of flame formed in each hand, solidifying into his trademark Chakrams.

I charged. Axel jumped out of the way, surprised. I fist-slammed Axel in the side with both of my Keyblades, knocking him out of the way. Axel gripped his chakrams tightly, flipped onto his hands, jumped into the air, and fired both flaming chakrams at me in defense. I easily slammed them both away, and jumped up to Axel. Axel summoned his chakrams again, but I blasted through his defenses and started beating Axel down in mid-air. Axel summoned a chakram right under my chest, and the arrival of the flaming chakram cut through my jacket and sliced open my stomach. I was blown back in searing pain, before casting a Cure spell upon myself. I timed my movement just right, and I flipped in mid-air before colliding with the ground. I saw Axel charging down at me, and I slammed both of my Keyblades into the back of Axel's head, sending him sprawling into the ground with intense force. The collision of Axel's face with the floor was so great, the shock nearly me over. I landed far away from where Axel was, getting on the defensive. When I looked back up, Axel wasn't lying on the ground as I expected. I turned around and was subsequently punched in the face by Axel, who had apparently come out of a dark portal from behind me. I was sent flying until I crashed into the wall of flame, which for some reason threw me back towards the arena. I got up, grunting, before charging straight back at Axel. Axel threw both chakrams at me, and I clashed them both away with my Keyblades. Axel, getting ready, easily evaded my dual Keyblade assault, before punching me away with two flaming chakrams. I got up panting, heavily. Suddenly, I dropped into a dark portal that I summoned below me. I landed behind Axel. I rammed my keyblades through his chest. Axel dodged away, badly injured but not fatally.

"You… did well… Xsirch…"

"Maybe we'll meet again." I said grimly, as I prepared to finish him off, "In the next life."

Axel laughed grimly. "Just because you have a next life… doesn't mean I do." He faded into a dark portal, and left me standing there.

I walked away. After wandering the lower corridors for a while, I came across a large white room. Inside the room was a pair of pods. In front of the pods was the man named DiZ.

"So, you have come." DiZ said with obvious disdain.

"Who exactly are you?" I asked.

"None of your concern, nobody." DiZ said in a commanding tone.

"What do you mean?" I demanded.

"Silence, nobody." DiZ ordered, as he pressed a button on the pod. "I would rather you spend your last moments not annoying me with your very existence, or rather, UNexistance. A nobody does not exist."

"Was that… Was that supposed to be a joke?" I asked in fury, "Because I'm not laughing!" I summoned my single keyblade and charged him. I brought it down in a killing stroke, but my keyblade passed straight through him just as my hand has passed through Hayner back in the fake Twilight Town.

"I apologize." DiZ said in a voice that dripped sarcasm. "But this is only a holographic representation." The hologram of DiZ disappeared, and the pod behind him began to slowly open. When it opened completely, like a budding flower, inside was the teenager. He still wore his black jacket and jeans, although they appeared to be getting a little too small for him. He had a headband tied around his arm, and on it it said the word "Yuffie."

I felt something come over me.

"Well…" I said to no one in particular, "…Looks like my summer vacation… is over."

A wave of light washed over us, and I merged with Chris.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six: Chris Talonflight: Awakened

My eyes snapped open.

I was standing in a white pod in a large white room. In a smaller pod, Nudge was awakening. I leapt from the pod.

_What the hell? How did I get here?_ I thought. Nudge leapt from his pod and stood next to me, equally confused.

"Any idea how we got here?" I asked the little shadow heartless. Nudge, a tame, overpowered shadow, was my best friend, with the possible exception of David Frostmourne. He was about the size of a Pikachu Pokémon, small enough to sit on my shoulder comfortably. His antennae were straight, with only a single, 45 degree turn near the end. Around his neck was a white collar. Nudge had picked it out himself. While Nudge had a pleasant and active personality, he was a fierce and deadly fighter, and had saved my life on numerous occasions. Nudge was extremely overpowered for a shadow heartless. He had singlehandedly taken down three giant heartless on his own: one Darkside, one Guard Armor, and a Leechgrave. He was kind to anyone he deemed his friend, but to my good friend David Frostmourne, my girlfriend Yuffie Kisaragi Stromwind, and me, he was devoted, although with me he was loyal to a different degree altogether. It was like he was my little brother/puppy.

David Frostmourne was a veteran of many impossible missions. He had worked for King Mickey nearly all of his life. Whenever I saw him, I was reminded of my old life on Earth. That life was likely as not gone for good. When our world had been taken over by heartless and destroyed, I, along with several of my friends, had ended up in Traverse Town, with a few people named Leon, Aerith, Cid, and Yuffie. My friends and I had gained several powers: my friend Rodney had gained a broadsword and the power of lightning; my friend C had gained a Demyx Guitar and control over water; and my last friend Ashley had gained the keyblade Lurebreaker. Rodney had been captured by a powerful dark wizard named Johnson, who had plotted along with the villains of various worlds to gain control of Kingdom Hearts, the sum total of all hearts that have been freed by a keyblade. Johnson had turned Rodney into a hybrid human-cyborg, and set him against us. The last I knew of him, he had been battling C. I never knew what became of them, or what fate had befallen Ashley or my good friend Frostmourne.

I began wandering through the area.

"Okay…" I mentally recapped as I walked. "We killed Johnson… we locked Kingdom Hearts, and thus restored our world… And I guess that since I'm here the RE: Chain of Memories events passed all right too, along with the events of 358/2 Days… I wonder what my nobody's name was…" I dismissed my thoughts.

Nudge shrugged, and leapt up to sit on my shoulder. I noticed that my outfit was starting to get small on me. I cursed mentally: I had to run into Hayner, Pence and Olette like this! I hoped that it wasn't that noticeable.

Fed up with being lost in the maze, I opened a dark portal. My Keyblade's element was darkness. When we had begun this whole mess, I had thought that I would be playing the part of Riku from the Kingdom Hearts series. However, I seemed to be playing the role of a dark Sora. I wondered who would play the part of Riku now.

I stepped out into Twilight Town. Cursing my ill-fitting clothes, I wandered around. I managed to buy food, and then saw a large piece of cloth blocking off a small area. Curiously, I wandered behind it, while Nudge hid around the corner for no apparent reason.

"Hey!" A boy with spiky blonde hair said as I entered the little den. "What are you doing?"

"Uh... Sorry." I said. "Just wondering what was back here."

"Well, now you know." The boy said grumpily. There was another boy there, along with a girl. I recognized them in an instant. _Hayner, Pence, and Olette._

"My name is Olette." Olet said politely. "Did you do the homework?"

"Homework?" I asked, suddenly breaking out in a cold sweat.

"Yeah, the summer homework." Pence asked. "We were writing a report on the rumors of the mysteries of Twilight Town, but we found that they were all bogus."

"Ahh… I haven't even started it. I most likely won't even do it." I played along. "You see, I'm a traveler. I'm really just passing through Twilight Town myself, see, and I won't be staying here long."

"Oh." Hayner said. "We can show you to the Train station if you like… What was your name?"

"Chris Talonflight." I said. Nudge was hiding, so I didn't feel it necessary to introduce him.

"Okay." They said happily.

When we got to the train station, they waved goodbye. Suddenly, I paused in the outside of the station. Where had Nudge gone?

Suddenly, a group of Dusk nobodies, white creatures, appeared around me. I summoned my keyblade, Last Chaos.

"Eat this!" I yelled. I slashed left and right, decapitating nobodies. Where was Nudge?

Suddenly, a Samurai Nobody knocked me over. I had not seen him, and he had taken advantage of that. Suddenly, a golden keyblade flashed through its neck.

"King!" I yelled. Nudge stood right beside him, at the ready. King Mickey Mouse gestured towards the train station.

"Get away!" he ordered. "Now!"

I was torn. I wanted to help him, but he was the king, and he had just given me an order.

"Come on, Nudge!" I called to my little shadow. Nudge leapt after me, and we fled from the nobodies, into the train station. When we entered the train station, we found a strange looking train just pulling up.

"Hey Chris!" It was Hayner, Pence, and Olette.

"Hey." I nodded.

"We just wanted to see you off." Pence explained.

"Yeah… Thanks." I smiled at them. Suddenly, I felt strange. Something was tingling my eye. Hayner, Pence, and Olette's faces suddenly went shocked for a moment. I touched my face. My hand came away wet.

"You okay?" Hayner asked.

"Yeah… I'm fine." I paused as I looked out on the pretty landscape, with the autumn themed colors swirling in the twilight. "It's just… Suddenly, I feel as if I'm never going to see this town again."

"I'm sure you will!" Olette said passionately, winking at me.

_Oh god, not some underage chick too. I have Yuffie! Why do people start flirting with me for no reason! It's not like I'm even that cute!_ I grumbled mentally. _First Namine, now Olette! I hope that we don't have some random chick in the next world! Besides, how old is she, fourteen? I turned nineteen while I was sleeping for god's sake!_

I sprinted into the train, and it instantly started pulling away from the station.

"Whew… That was a close one." I said, petting Nudge idly while looking out the window.

Something was poking me. I reached down, and picked up a blue crystal.

"You know…" I said, as I gazed at the blue crystal, "… I'm sad."

As I expected from being a total addict to the Kingdom Hearts series, the scenery changed abruptly. One moment we were travelling through grassy slopes after just exiting Twilight Town. Now, we were travelling through an ethereal landscape of glowing green.

_Nice work, your majesty. _I thought. From my being a total addict to Kingdom Hearts I, II, RE: COM, and 358/2 Days, and even BBS, I knew exactly where we were going, despite Nudge's confusion.

"Relax, buddy." I said soothingly. "This is a special train that the King called for us. I suspect it's actually a Gummi Ship in disguise. It's taking us to a friend."

When the train finally stopped, we were in a nighttime setting, surrounded by trees. In front of us was a large clearing, and a huge tower was there. In front of the tower was a large figure.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven: Chris Talonflight: Friendship

"Hey, what are you doing there?" I asked sharply. The figure didn't even turn around.

"I'm sending my heartless minions up the tower. What does it look like I'm doing?"

"Exactly what you said." I said grimly. "Who are you?" I should have remembered, but sleeping for so long still had my brain fuzzy.

"Who are _you_?" the figure retorted in response, still not turning from peeking through the crack between the two double doors into the tower.

"Maleficent's dead." I commented. _Now_ I remembered this part of the game. "You're an idiot, Pete, for two reasons." I started ticking things off on my fingers. "One, you're sending shadow heartless and low forms into that tower knowing that there's a powerful wizard up there. Your minions will probably be slaughtered. Second, that wizard is Yen Sid. It doesn't take a genius to figure that if you fail to get him turned into a heartless he will come gunning after you. Third, you're waiting at the bottom, not even seeing how much progress your minions are making, and thus not knowing when you have to send the next batch of heartless, and not seeing any defenses that he has in place. Fourth, your outfit has way too many zippers, which is not a good idea, since all I have to do is aim there with my weapon and your clothes will fall apart, which will be very embarrassing. Fifth, your standing in my way, and I don't take kindly to rude people who wont even look at me when their talking to me. Sixth, if you don't turn around right now, my shadow heartless is going to- Oh shoot!"

It was too late. Nudge had pulled one of his zippers. Pete, for the figure was he, leapt ten miles into the air and came down in a thump. Nudge stood by innocently.

"Why you!" Pete fumed while re-zipping his zipper. "You'll pay for that! Go Dustflier!"

"Hmph." I smirked. "You wanna handle this, Nudge, or shall I?" Nudge shook his head, and charged at the Dustflier. The Dustflier charged at him to meet the charge, but a straight on charge was never Nudge's intent. He leapt over the Dustflier, allowing the Dustflier to ram into the dark energy ball that Nudge had been dragging. While the Dustflier was stunned, Nudge plowed into it, slashing furiously with his claws and tendrils of darkness. Dustflier was pushed back. Then Nudge charged up a large ball of dark energy, and launched it towards Dustflier. The Dustflier fell, dead, before fading into darkness.

Pete gaped for a good ten seconds. Suddenly, something pushed him away. A large scythe slammed into the ground where he had been standing.

From the darkness behind where Pete was now standing, emerged a familiar figure.

"Xanju!" I yelled, summoning my dark keyblade.

"Where are you guys coming from?" Pete yelled, before fleeing into the night. I let him go.

"Who are you?" Xanju asked. He was wearing a blood red cloak. In his right hand he held a bat-winged scythe. In his right hand he held an angel winged scythe. However, both of the weapons were tinted red.

"How can you ask that?" I asked him. "You tried to kill me!"

"How should I know?" he said, slumping. "I don't remember."

"You don't remember?" I asked, confused.

"The last thing I remember is battling some girl with a key. Then she smacked me in the head, and my memory went blank. That's all." He said miserably. "When I woke up, I found myself here, in this world. Then I was attacked by that fat dog thing. He said he was trying to turn me into a heartless. It didn't work, because I'm a Nobody."

"So you remember you're a Nobody, and your name and stuff, but not your past?" I asked him.

Xanju nodded. "How is it that you know me?" he asked.

"Well… It's a long story." I said. "You see, we were from the same world, called Reality. We were friends. You original name was Juan. However, our world was taken over by creatures of darkness known as the Heartless. We were scattered to different worlds. You had your heart removed from you by a Heartless, which turned your remnant into a nobody. You were mad at me, because it turned out that I had the power to stop the Heartless and I hadn't done it before you lost your heart because I hadn't known that I had the power at all. You came after me and my friends because of that. Eventually, though, you ended up being manipulated by a man who was trying to destroy all of the worlds in darkness. After we met you on our way to kill him, my friend Ashley stayed to battle you, while I went on ahead." I summarized. "After I beat the guy who was using you, I have been battling an evil group of Nobodies called Organization XIII. I am now about to go speak with the Ultimate Wizard known as Yen Sid."

"I… I did that?" Xanju asked. "How…" he seemed shocked. "How could you not wish revenge upon me?"

"I don't let little stuff get my mood sour." I waved it off. "Besides, you were still my friend, just being manipulated."

"You mean… We're still friends?" he asked.

"Duh." I suddenly grabbed him and gave him a noogie. "Come on, you can travel with us."

Xanju took a minute to absorb this, before nodding. "All right." He said.

"Then let's go." I smiled.

We went into the tower.

"So, what's your name again?" Xanju asked. I chuckled.

"Chris Talonflight. This little guy is Nudge." I said, gesturing to the Shadow.

We walked up the huge spiral staircase without incident. We did pass some half dead heartless, but they were incapacitated by Yen Sid's magic.

When we reached the top, I opened the doors, and there we stood, in front of an old man sitting at a study desk.

"Ahh!" he said delightedly. "I have been expecting you, Darklighter, but I am also happy to meet your little friend, the Tame Heartless!" his eyes settled on Xanju.

"This is my other friend, Xanju." I offered.

"You keep strange company, Darklighter." He said softly. Then he seemed to regain his composure. "Do you know why you're here?"

"Well, I know I gotta find someone." I said, as I leaned on the desk.

Yen Sid raised an eyebrow.

"I can't believe I was just that casually impertinent to the Ultimate Wizard." I moaned. "Sorry. What do I call you? Wizard? Yen Sid? Master Sid? Sir?"

"Impertinence suits you better, Darklighter."

"Why do you keep calling me that?" I asked. "My name is Chris."

"Darklighter isn't a name, it's a title." Yen Sid explained. "You are the light portion of the darkness."

"You know that made no sense." I pointed out.

"It's best to give you the full explanation. You are not the first one to use darkness for good. One other once did, named Terra. He had a poem he once wrote. This is it.

"_I am Darklighter._

"_I am the lord of shadows. _

"_I claim the shadows that the Shadow cannot._

"_I am the light of the darkness. _

"_I am the darkness of the light._

"_I am what darkness was created to be._

"_I am Darklighter."_

"Do you see now?" Yen Sid finished.

"I think." I shrugged. "Anyway, who is it I'm searching for?"

"You know Agent Frostmourne, correct?" Yen Sid asked. I nodded in affirmation.

"Yeah, he's like my best friend." I responded.

"He and the King have gone missing." He said, folding his hands. "I believe that it is the work of a group of Nobodies, calling themselves Organization XIII." He paused. "You are responsible for the deaths of half their members."

"Noted." I said with a grin. _So, I DID get through the RE: COM events all right! YES!_

"You know what you have to do." Yen Sid smiled.

"Yeah."

"Um… Are your clothes comfortable?" he asked, looking at me strangely.

_Ahh… the clothes issue…_

"Well…" I paused, unsure how to explain that I had been sleeping for the past year.

"I have three aids." He said hurriedly, sensing my discomfort. "They will help you find some more… suitable travelling clothes."

I entered the side room. There, three fairies tittered among themselves. I noticed several paintings in the walls. The first was a picture of me in a blood red outfit, wielding two keyblades crackling with red electricity. The second picture was of me in an ocean blue outfit, with my keyblade encased in blue energy. Another picture of me showed me as a Heartless, as Anti-Chris, the power of darkness flowing over me. Yet another picture showed me in my dark armor outfit, with black and red armor, and a red blindfold. I knew what they were. The red form was Valor Form. The blue for was Wisdom Form. The black and red form was what I referred to as my dark form, but I now realized that it must be my own Master Form. The heartless form was Anti Form.

"Hello, Darklighter!" the fairies tittered.

_Oh no… I always hated this part of the game…_

I flexed my arms in my new outfit. My new outfit was a beauty, and similar to the one Frostmourne had lent me when we had gone after Johnson in the KH1 events. It had a single black shoulder-plate of armor, with black pointy armor running down the left arm, and covering the hand, with four slots. The shoulder plate had a Heartless symbol inside an O with a diagonal line through it, in the classic "NO" symbol. The torso of the outfit was black leather, along with the legs, which had some black armor on them too, with more strange red slots in them. The right arm was sleeveless, but there was a long fingerless glove that reached my elbow, and a trio of arm-bands to fill the remaining space.

"Honestly… it doesn't feel that different." I admitted. Each of the fairies giggled.

"You're wearing new clothes, not making love to a woman." Xanju muttered. I chuckled at that, happy that my friend was back with me.

"In order to enter your Valor Form, you must merge with Xanju." The fairies instructed.

"And how in the world am I supposed to do that?" I wondered out loud.

"Simply want to." The fairies explained. "Both of you must wish to merge, and then combine your singular powers to merge."

"That's complicated." I pouted. Then I gave Xanju a look. He shrugged.

After a few tries, we succeeded.

Xanju vanished in a red flash, and suddenly, the armor on my left side turned blood red. The black leather of my outfit became grey and red camouflage. Yuffie's headband, which I had previously worn on my arm, somehow was now wrapped around my head, with her name in red letters. I was holding two keyblades. One was my usual Last Chaos keyblade, but the second was a black and red keyblade. The handle was a circle of blades, and blade itself was a twisting rod leading up to a pair of intertwining scythe ends. Both keyblades crackled with a red electricity, and I felt… _hyper_. I felt like I was on an energy high. I wanted to run a marathon, battle Sonic the Hedgehog, climb Mount Everest, cross the Sahara Desert, race across Antarctica, and fly off a cliff…

You get the idea.

"Whoah-cool-this-is-awesome-I-never-knew-that-Valor-Form-was-so-energetic-and-hyper!" I said in one breath.

"The Valor Form has that effect on people." The fairies said wryly.

"So-how-do-I-transform-back-to-normal?" I asked.

"Just want to."

Transforming into Valor Form was easy. I ended up naming the scythe-headed keyblade Last Judgment. It was a reference to a similar keyblade that I had seen on Deviant Art back on Earth that was named Last Judgment. So when I was in Valor Form I would wield Last Chaos and Last Judgment.

Yen Sid smiled at me when I went back into his room.

"I assume you wish to be off on your way." He said. I nodded.

"There is a certain world that I wish you to visit first." Yen Sid said. "You might know it as Persia. I believe you have a contact there, the Prince?"

"Yeah!" I nodded enthusiastically. "Prince is cool! But why do you want me to go there first?"

"There is a discrepancy about the time of that world." Yen Sid explained. "You visited it last year. This time, it could be that seven of Prince's years have passed since that time. You might go next year, and then only a month might have passed. The time relation with the rest of the worlds of Fantasy is chaotic to a strange degree."

"So if I go there now, I'll arrive there seven years after I saw him last." I concluded. "Awesome."

Seven years was the time difference between "Prince of Persia: the Sands of Time" and "Prince of Persia: Warrior Within."

After dispelling Xanju and exiting Valor Form, I bid a farewell to Yen Sid.

"I hope to see you once again, Darklighter."

"Oh you will." I waved it off. "After all, I wanna see if you have written down my story yet."

"Actually…" he lifted a large notebook. "… The events of your first excursion against Johnson are written down. I am halfway through your antics in Castle Oblivion. I must say, it makes a good read."

"What have you titled them?" I asked.

"The first part is called: 'Kingdom Hearts: Light of Happiness.' The second part is called: 'Kingdom Hearts: Quiet of the Ascension.' I believe the tale of your Nobody will be called 'Kingdom Hearts: Nothing is Sacred.'" **(Note: this is a reference to the previous stories in this series, with the events parallel to KH1 being called Light of Happiness, the events of KH RE:COM being called Quiet of the Ascension, and the events of KH 358/2 Days being called Nothing Is Sacred. If you haven't read these stories here on , I advise you to read them because it is very hard to understand the context of this story without them)**

"I see…" I grinned. "Maybe when this is all over, I'll take a copy of them back to Reality. They'll go quite well on ."

Yen Sid chuckled. "Yes, I believe they will. And as for this excursion, I believe I will title it: Kingdom Hearts: Sound of Rising Storm."

After bidding farewell to the old wizard, I opened a dark portal, and stepped out in Persia.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight: Chris Talonflight: Persia.

We appeared in a the dark corridors of the Fortress of Time. Standing by me with his sword drawn was none other then my old friend the Prince.

The last time I had visited his world, we had aided him in getting to the Hourglass of Time, and undoing his release of the Sands of Time. Now, it was seven years later for him. He had been hunted by a legendary beast known as the Dahaka. He was now on a mission to kill the Empress of Time in the deep past, and prevent the creation of the Sands of Time.

"Yo! Prince!" I called, running a passing Sand Monster through. "Over here!"

"What…?" Prince gaped. Then he beheaded another Sand Monster.

_Sand Creatures… cool name, but inept. They're zombies. Sure, they _CALL _them sand creatures, but it's just a Persian zombie._

I spun in a circle, unleashing dark energy in a wave that gave the Prince a bit of space, in which I landed back to back with him.

"Need help?" I asked sarcastically, knowing what the answer would be.

"Help wouldn't be so bad." Prince muttered

"Glad to see you still alive." I clasped hands with him.

"How on Earth did you get here?" he asked. "Its been seven years since I've seen you."

"I suspect Earth has very little to do with it." I chuckled.

"You scare me." The Prince laughed. "You disappear for ten years, show up, and joke about it?"

"Well, you know, got to keep the image up." I laughed. "You're after that chick, Kaileena?"

"Yes… what of it?" Prince asked questioningly.

"Just wondering exactly where you are by now." I shrugged. "Have you found the Mask of the Sand Wraith yet?"

"Nearly!" he said, throwing up his hands. "I spent my time doing the impossible trying to fight my way into the Empress of Time's throne room, merely to discover that the woman who has been helping me is the one who tries to kill me! After I kill her, thinking that I have undone the creation of the Sands, I learn that her dead body is what creates the sands!" he sat on a rock. "I have become the architect of my own destruction. Instead of destroying the sands of time… I have been an instrument in their creation!"

"Well, cheer up!" I said cheerfully. "Any of those black Heartless things bothering you?"

"More then enough." Prince groaned. "But I managed."

"Well, at least you have my help now." I clapped him on the back. "You're almost to the Mask. I'll help you."

"Thank you, my friends." Prince smiled.

After a few close encounters, we heard a roar.

"Oh no…" the Prince moaned.

"The Dahaka!" I yelled. "Move it!"

We sprinted down the hallway, ducking down into a small side corridor.

"Well." Prince said as the Dahaka ran down a different hall. "That was lucky."

"You have no idea." I whispered. Beyond this part of the game was a grueling Dahaka Chase, which I knew that I would not be able to run.

We managed to go down two more hallways before we found a Sand Portal.

"These Portals will transport us either to the Past or the Present, depending on where we enter one." Prince explained. "Should you enter one in the Past, you will go to the Present. Should you enter one in the Present, you will enter one in the Past. This one will take us to the Past."

"Good." I grumbled.

After a tingling feeling, I stepped into the swirling vortex of sand. It was similar to the save points in Prince of Persia Sands of Time. However, as we hovered in the swirling vortex, we saw time rewind before our very eyes. Stone that had fallen now picked itself back up and replaced itself. Xanju gaped openly. Prince and I merely smirked. Nudge had fallen asleep while sitting on my shoulder.

When the time portal stopped rotating, we were in a nicely decorated hallway. There in front of us was a locked door.

_If I remember correctly, in order to get to the switch to open the door, you have to climb the wall above it, rebound jump to the next level, dodge a whole bunch of traps, escape a falling pit trap, and walk slowly over a bunch of spike floor tiles. That's too much work. Lets make this easy._

I charged up a ball of dark energy. With a flick of my wrists, I sent it slamming into the door. The door opened. The room was made of stone, with light coming in from a hole in the room. On the floor were several shards of glass.

There, in the middle of the room, was a mask.

The Mask of the Sand Wraith.

And standing in front of it was a heartless.

The heartless squealed. It cast its hands towards me, sending out a strange aura. The aura enveloped me, lifting several shards of glass and sending them flying. I yelled in pain. Suddenly, I felt a change come over me. Prince let out a gasp. Nudge shot a beam of dark energy at the Heartless, but the heartless dodged, and disappeared in a flash.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Uh… Chris…" Prince was speechless.

"What is it?" I demanded.

"You… err… you look…" Prince seemed nervous.

"Look like what?" I asked.

"You're old."

I gave him a weird look. Then I picked up a shard of glass, and looked at my reflection. I gave out a terrible scream.

My face looked older. I looked around fifty, with grey hair and age lines. However, my muscles were more powerful.

"Cure!" Xanju muttered. As I watched the Cure spell take effect, I saw my face get younger. My muscles diminished to their normal size.

"What… What just happened?" I asked.

"That heartless made you older!" Xanju growled. "And when I healed you, you got younger."

"That makes no sense!" I protested.

"Maybe its like in the Pirates of the Caribbean level: that heartless mused have cursed you!" Xanju said. "Anyway, it looked pretty powerful. We should keep our eyes out for it. Then we can get you back to normal."

"So if I get hurt I get older and if I heal I get younger?" I asked. "That's… that's confusing!"

"Get over it." Prince laughed. He lifted the Mask of the Sand Wraith, and placed it on his face. Suddenly, he arched his back, and screamed.

He hovered in midair, tendrils of energy racing across him. He slowly transformed. When he finished his transformation, he had the appearance of a grey and black sand creature. His face had the same features as he normally did, except for the colors. And his eyes! They glowed blue. There were strange tendrils wrapping around his limbs. He did appear quite fearsome.

"Wow… Nice look." I whistled.

"I… I have become… that THING!" He yelled.

"Duh." I shrugged. "That thing was you. You were seeing yourself. Since the time here is so weird, you could see yourself." I walked up to him. "The Dahaka hunts you. However, there is a simple solution that we can use, now that you have the mask. We can coexist in the same timeline as your past self. So we just wait for him to kill your past self, and then you take it off."

"So… I wait for the other me to die, and then take it off?" he asked.

"DUH." I traded in my keyblade for my twin Soul Eaters. I had been neglecting them. They needed practice. "Come on. Something tells me that this is going to take a while…"

I stood with blood pouring from my arms, blood dried in my long, grey beard, and surrounded by an army of heartless. I stared despondently at the door that separated from my friends taking eth moment to use the cure material in my suit to return me to my normal age and health. We had been fleeing from the Dahaka, and we had found this doorway. I, **(begin heavy sarcasm)** ever the smart one **(end heavy sarcasm)**, had hypothesized that the Dahaka couldn't fit through a passageway that small. However, I had forgotten that the Dahaka could smash right through walls. I had fallen behind from lack of exercise in my year of sleep, and had been left behind when the Dahaka smashed through the wall, chasing Prince. My two companions, who were able to keep pace with Prince, had already passed through the door when it suddenly slammed closed, leaving me on this side. The Dahaka had taken no notice of me, and had blasted through the wall in its chase. However, a veritable army of Nobodies had been following it, and had set upon me. They were the reason for my injuries.

The fear of being near the Dahaka had been overwhelming. In the video game, when you had gotten close to the Dahaka, the world had taken on a yellowish tinge. I had found that to be true. When the Dahaka had passed over me, everything had gone yellow. The simple radiation that seemed to emanate from it… the _fear_ that I had felt when it passed near me… it was so intense that for an instant I had been reminded of when I was a small child, after waking from a terrifying dream, and sitting there shaking in the darkness of my bedroom, clutching my toy sword, waiting for the apparition from my dream to step out of the darkness to take me. That brought back a particularly terrifying dream from my early childhood. When I dreamed, I usually didn't get nightmares, but when I did, I awoke screaming…

…_This world has been connected… Tied to the darkness…_ I stood on the edge of a path in a veritable paradise, a forest behind me, looking out onto the beach at the lone figure standing there. _There is so very much to learn… A meaningless effort… One who knows nothing can understand nothing…_ The words seemed to echo inside my head. As I watched, the water on the beach sank down, until the beach had become a deadly cliff, with cracks running through it. The water turned a diseased purple, and one by one, things on the island began to disappear: tree's; a rock sticking up out of the surf, now a mountain; bits of the tree house and playgrounds that had been lovingly erected on the border of the jungle and the beach; and worst of all, pieces of the sky, and the sun became darkened. I heard a tearing sound behind me, and I turned to see the forest become torn up, like wrapping paper, curling away from an area where I saw the diseased purple color mixed with darkness begin to eat away at the land. I turned to the figure, and said in a voice that couldn't be heard, "_Why are you doing this?" _As I watched, I saw the figure begin to turn. It was clad in the armor of darkness, with short black hair, with a single slash of white in his hair near the front. In its hand was a bat-wing shaped sword. As I watched, the wing unfurled and twisted, and it took on the shape of a dark keyblade. Then the figure completed its turn, and I saw the face. I screamed a silent scream, unheard in the destroyed paradise. For the figure had my own face.

I clenched my fists. First the nightmare of the destruction of my own world, and now this.

Dark malice filled the face of the person on the shore, and the me who was not me spoke the next few words:

_"Take a look at this tiny place. To the heart seeking freedom, this island is a prison, surrounded by water. And so this boy wished to escape from his prison. His heart and mind wandered beyond the bounds of the reality of his world, although he believed he could not have it. Yet still he yearned for it, and now his wish has been granted. He wished for it, and he opened his heart to the darkness. All worlds begin in darkness, and all so end. The heart is no different. For, you see, Darkness is the hearts true essence."_

I finally found my voice in that terrible place. "You're wrong!" I yelled. "Even if darkness is all that the heart is, deep inside the darkness, there's a light that never goes out!" suddenly, in my hand there was the bat winged sword. As I looked at it, I saw darkness crawl up my arm, and begin to cover my body. I screamed. But when the darkness on me cleared, I was wearing a red scarf for a blindfold, with a black fighting outfit with a red symbol on it. Somehow, I could see through the blindfold as it wasn't there. I began to approach the figure of darkness that had my face, but then the last remaining thing on the island disappeared: the ground. As I fell into blackness, I hear a voice speaking. The only encouragement I could hear.

_Come on, Chris. I thought you were stronger then that._

Then I saw the me who was not me draw back his weapon for a kill, as we fell through nothingness, and I felt a sharp pain in my head-

I snapped out of my flashback. I understood it now!

_When I saw myself standing there, the destroyer of worlds, I saw something that I had feared._ I feared myself becoming what I had fought so vehemently. I played the part of a staunch defender of the worlds… what would happen if I one day became the Xehanort of the worlds, the arbiter of evil? What if I became the Heartless lord Ansem, the Universed King Vanitas, the Nobody Ruler, Xemnas, the evil one out of legend? I wielded darkness, after all… what was to stop me from-

"Having fun?"

In a reflex I lashed out, and was thrown back. I barely stopped myself from falling off of a ledge. However, as soon as I caught myself, the ledge began cracking. I tried to scramble back to safety, but the ledge collapse. I started falling towards my death, and then I was saved. A hand grabbed my wrist.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine: Chris Talonflight: Aging.

"You really need to do something about those reflexes, Chris."

I looked up in stark disbelief. "John?" My school friend hauled me up to the sturdy floor, laughing.

"It's actually kind of funny." He said. "We were two of the most Kingdom Hearts involved people in the school, and now look: in the worlds of Fantasy themselves. Quite a trick, eh?"

"But… John, how did you get here?" I asked, perplexed.

"Not John." He wagged his finger. "Nhoxj."

"Huh?" I wondered. "Pronounced Nadje? From that Fanfiction I wrote? Spelled with an X?"

"One and the same." He said, grinning. "The nobody of John."

"Wait… you're a Nobody?" I asked, saddened. My friend nodded. How could he seem so cheerful?

"It's not bad at all. The PSI powers make up for a lot." He grinned again. "And Nobodies CAN feel some emotions, whatever DiZ says in 358/2 Days."

"I… uh… Wow." I stuttered. I had been reunited with my friends, and found that no one was as they were. "How are things at home? Have you been there?" I asked.

"Nope." He shook his head. "I'm travelling, trying to counter the Organization. You?"

"Playing Sora's parts, with a few changes." I grinned back. I showed him my keyblade. He showed me him-throwing-blocks-of-stone-with-his-mind.

"Have fun with this, Chris." He smirked. "I must say, Yuffie has quite a crush on you."

"HUH?" I stood bolt upright. "You've met Yuffie? How is she?"

"She's fine." My friend laughed at my reaction. "A bit depressed, but fine. She's mad at herself that she forgot about you for the past year."

"Thank god." I sighed, relieved. "How many worlds have you been to?"

"Hollow Bastion, Traverse Town, Halloween Town, Agrabah, Twilight Town, and a few others. I got rid of Xaldin for you too, by the way, so you don't need to go hunting through his castle and fight that giant heartless thing. Beast is guarding the castle for when Xaldin comes back. You know, when you visit Beast's Castle for the second time, when you fight Xaldin in KH2?"

"Yeah." I smiled. "I have a friend with a pair of scythes who has been spoiling for a good fight. He might be interested."

"When this is over, we should take our KH obsessed friends on a camping trip to the End of the World." Nhoxj joked. We laughed.

"We could make thousands in cosplay posters alone!" I theorized.

"Also…" Nhoxj said, "… I've seen Ansem hanging around in Twilight Town. Didn't you kill him?"

"Actually, he wasn't the boss in the KH1 events." I grimaced. "There was this guy called Johnson, who was really tough, who did everything that Ansem was supposed to do in KH1. Since the real life KH events are different from the games, while still also following events, even entire final boss fights are changed. I battled Johnson and Maleficent along with a Replica of myself… I wonder what happened to him."

"Well, I can't-"

I never found out what Nhoxj couldn't, because the glowing Heartless that made me age appeared.

"Get him!" I yelled. I ran at the heartless, but it merely sent a stream of flying glass at me, slicing up my body. I felt myself age this time. However, as I aged, I felt myself get stronger. I roared as I sent my keyblade flying at the head of the heartless. However, the heartless fled with a scream as Nhoxj let out a PSI blast.

"Damn!" I swore. "I need to kill that thing to end this curse!"

Nhoxj raised his eyebrow. "You sure get yourself into a lot of trouble. This is even worse then when you got your shoe stolen in the locker room back in school and had to walk up to our school, five floors up, with only one shoe."

"Yeah…" I grinned as I used my cure Materia to return me to normal. Yuffie had given me this Materia, along with a Materia that could be changed into anything. I had transformed it into a Curagala Materia. A Curagala spell was one step up from a Curaga, and only Yen Sid himself could cast the spell. I remember that I had gone to Yen Sid's castle directly, and he had made a copy of my memories as payment for casting the spell. That was the reason we had been so familiar with each other. HE had said that he was going to write a book, because my memories from my previous excursion had been so intriguing. I couldn't argue with that.

Exactly one year before, I had lived on Earth, a world separated from the worlds of fantasy. Then the Heartless had come, and had destroyed my world, sending it through the torn veil between Fantasy and Reality to merge with Kingdom Hearts. I had fought my way through several other worlds, along with my friends: Ashley, Rodney, and C. Ashley was a Keyblade wielder, and she wielded a keyblade named Lurebreaker. Rodney had wielded the power of lightning, but he had succumbed to darkness. The last I knew of him, he had been battling C. C wielded a guitar that could control water: a useful weapon.

At the end of my journey, we had encountered our greatest enemy so far: a man who called himself Johnson, who had wielded the power of darkness. I had faced him in combat at the end, and barely defeated him. He had died when he tried to summon the power of Kingdom Hearts. It had killed him instead. However, the door to Kingdom Hearts had been opened, and there was only one way to close it. Johnson had created a replica of me using power contained in the mysterious fortress known as Castle Oblivion, and the replica had rebelled against him and joined me. The replica agreed to be sealed inside Kingdom Hearts along with the King of Disney Castle, King Mickey. Their Keyblades, weapons that could lock and unlock worlds, combined with the power of my own keyblade, had locked Kingdom Hearts, and ensured that it could never be accessed from that point again... or so I hoped. My friends Ashley and C had been returned to our world when the door was locked, because re-locking the door would cause all of the worlds that had been destroyed to return to their place, which was, in their case, Earth. Another friend, David Frostmourne, had been returned to his world of Disney Castle: or so I hoped, but I had since suspected that Frostmourne had no true home. But it was the departure of my last friend, Yuffie Kisaragi Stromwind, which had troubled me most. You see, I was in love with her.

Yuffie and I had met the same day that I had arrived in a world called Traverse Town. We had developed a relationship, and I still bore her parting gifts: my legendary healing Materia Curagala, and her headband.

After I had been left stranded in the Endless Abyss after locking Kingdom Hearts, I had managed to escape. Creating portals of darkness was no problem when you were in the realm of darkness, after all. I had ended up in a place which I knew, from my previous knowledge, was the remains of the world called The Land of Departure. There was a strange castle there, called Castle Oblivion, which worked on your memory in strange ways. The farther up I went towards the top of the castle, the more memories I would lose. However, I had to do it: a group of Nobodies, known as Organization XIII, had sent a few of their members there. I had no way of returning to Castle Oblivion once I left it, so I had to take my opportunity to slay a good half of their members... I think. When I reached the top, I had lost my memory completely. Namine, a nobody whom I suspected was Yuffie's nobody (Since Yuffie seemed to be taking the place of Kairi for the most part, and her heart had been removed at Hollow Bastion when Johnson kidnapped her to lure me to him), put me to sleep for a year while she fixed my memory. That was where things got complicated.

When I had been battling Johnson, I had been forced to turn into a heartless. Because of my singular powers of darkness, I escaped form the Heartless condition, but I still had my nobody created. I had no idea what my nobody had done in the intervening year between my falling asleep and my awakening, but I knew that only my nobody could have awakened me from that sleep, since he contained my final pieces of memory. I assumed that he had gone through the events of Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, and whoever was playing the part of Riku had defeated him and brought him to DiZ, who made him wake me up.

In all perfect honesty, I could at any time end the threat of Organization XIII and face Xemnas, in addition to messing up the timeline of my adventures, but I also wanted to help the worlds. I, like all stupid video game obsessed people, wanted the final battle to be just that: a FINAL battle, not a battle that gives way to me having to go help a few random worlds, and then battle any members of the Organization that managed to escape. Plus, I wanted to get more powerful before facing Xemnas. I had known he would be in Hollow Bastion back when I was battling Johnson, because in the game he was an optional boss. However, I had the distinct feeling that he was too powerful for me to beat. While I _had _defeated Marluxia and Johnson, when I had battled Johnson, I had been substantially powered up from being a user of darkness while being in the Endless Abyss, a world of pure darkness. As for battling Marluxia… I couldn't remember.

I wandered the halls of the Castle of Time with my former friend for a long while. We talked about non-consequential things: how our friends were doing, whether Keith had made the basketball scholarship he was hoping for, whether Jia was still buying old video games, whether Mr. Rosser was mad at me for missing a YEAR of school, whether Oscar had found a new Asian girl to date and whether or not I should introduce him to Yuffie (considering, after all, that Yuffie was Asian), if anyone else had been thrown into the Fantasy world like us, whether the Heartless were around on Earth, that sort of thing.

"Hey, when this is over, are you coming back to our world?" Nhoxj asked.

"I… I don't know." I answered honestly. "I wanted to at first, but then I met Yuffie… And also, I have responsibilities as a keyblade wielder. If someone else tries to take Kingdom Hearts, well… It's up to us keyblade users to defend it." I hesitated. "Plus, I don't feel that I fit into the small life given me in our world anymore."

"Yeah, I know the feeling." Nhoxj nodded. "I'm a nobody who can feel emotions so I'm kind of human as well, and yet because of all I've gone through and all of my new power, I just can't see myself there."

"You yourself could probably become a leader in these worlds: rebuild Organization XIII, that sort of thing." I pointed out. "You could rebuild the nobody society and hopefully disprove people's conceptions about Nobodies being all bad."

"Hmmm…. Not a bad idea." Nhoxj grinned. "And in order to do that, all we've got to stop the current Organization."

"Yeah…" I smirked. "It shouldn't be that hard…"

Suddenly, the heartless appeared again. It threw more shards of glass at me, before disappearing in a puff of smoke. I was out of potions, so I had to use my Materia again to heal myself.

"That's really weird, you know?" Nhoxj wrinkled his nose.

"Tell me about it." I agreed. We paused there. We were in a circular room, only one way out behind us. We were in a dead end. Suddenly, the door behind us closed.

"Uh-oh…" I muttered.

The heartless appeared in front of us. And he looked strangely familiar…

"Kobe, is that you?" I asked. The heartless looked at me strangely.

"I guess the darkness finally got to you." Nhoxj said grimly. The heartless version of my friend Delorian Nappi, whom I referred to as Kobe, narrowed his eyes.

"Hey…" I said, as the heartless began walking towards us. "You don't have to do this."

The heartless accelerated into a run. Blades of glass started sprouting from his arms.

"Okay, maybe you do." I admitted, summoning my Soul Eater. Kobe leapt into the air, whirling his arms, lashing out with his glass blades. I leaned back, his blades passing an inch away from my face. I blocked a strike aimed at my kidney, and another at my leg. Leaned back to avoid a slash aimed at my face. I locked one of his glass blades with my Soul Eater, and summoned the second Soul Eater. I plunged it into his stomach. I ripped it out, and slid back.

Kobe stood there, a hole in him. He smiled, and then waved his arm. A glow surrounded him, and his wound closed instantly.

"Shit." I breathed. _Controlled small-area time reversal? _Kobe tripped me and threw me across the room, breaking a wall and making me forty years old. Kobe slid in a low attack and I managed to propel myself over his glass blades. I ran at him, and he sidestepped, ramming his elbow into the bone of my shoulder, and slashing me across my back, making me fifty years old. I turned, and he was twirling in midair, and then he kicked me in the chest, throwing me through the wall I broke, and into the outside courtyard. I was sliding across the smooth tiles, and I suddenly did a back flip and landed on my feet, Soul Eaters at the ready. Kobe stood at the broken wall, framed by the inner room. Suddenly, he was slammed forwards by a blast of PSI, and Nhoxj was there, sending him bouncing off walls. I took that opportunity to climb a nearby wall, and stand there, out of his range.

Suddenly, Kobe disappeared in a puff of smoke, appearing behind Nhoxj. He lashed out with his blades, and knocked my friend into a wall, where he slumped, unconscious.

I crooked my finger at Kobe, in the classic "come get me" motion. I figured it would take him a bit of time to scale the wall.

Kobe disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Oh _great_." I breathed. I then lashed out behind me, Kobe disappearing from behind me at that instant. I nearly fell of the wall. HE appeared next to me, lashing out. I barely blocked. He locked my blades and pulled, hard. I flopped over, on my stomach. I tried to lash out and hit his feet from under him, but he did a flip over my blade and landed straddling my back, one of his blades pinning my seventy year old shoulder to the wall. HE pulled back his other blade for a finishing strike-

-and was thrown off the wall by a PSI blast. I stood, staring at Nhoxj, dazedly. He smirked.

The heartless appeared, standing between us, arms flailing. Pieces of glass slashed deeply into Nhoxj and me, pushing us apart. Suddenly, the heartless disappeared again in more smoke.

"Back to back!" I yelled. Me and my nobody friend went back to back.

"I got him!" I yelled as I saw our opponent flipping towards me.

"Oh no you don't." Nhoxj muttered, as he saw the same thing. Kobe flipped over us, and disappeared again. While we were still staring stupidly at the place he had been, he appeared in front of Nhoxj, slashing him. Then he was in front of me, kicking me. Then punching Nhoxj with his glass blades. Then tripping me. Then stabbing Nhoxj. Then slashing my arms. Then-

Nhoxj was grabbing him by the neck, preventing him from escaping. I ran Kobe through with my twin blades. He fell, finally defeated. My age dropped away, and I was my normal self again, nineteen.

"Well, Kobe, I hope you're happy." I said as I drew back my sword for the kill.

"Not Kobe…" the heartless gasped. "Nexus!"

He vanished, appearing far away this time.

"I had fun… see you later…" the humanoid heartless grinned, and then vanished.

"In all honesty… that was a very deeply disturbing sight." I admitted.

"Yeah…" Nhoxj said. "I think I'm going to track him."

"How do you plan on doing that?" I asked.

"I got a bit of his essence when I used that PSI attack. I'll be able to find him." He said determinedly. I decided not to ask what a PSI essence was, and therefore did not look like an idiot.

Nhoxj disappeared in the same way that Nexus had, in a puff of smoke.

After a long arduous five minutes, during which I tried to create a dark portal across time to the Throne Room, I finally succeeded, and encountered Kaileena. Unfortunately, I ended up there at the same moment that Prince and my friends started attacking her, so I never got the chance to try and stop the violence. However, we had all just appeared in the Present, in the ruined plateau, when the Dahaka arrived. So now it was Prince, Kaileena, Xanju, Nudge, and I against a monster out of legend.

I really had been tired by my battle with Nexus, so I merely used my dark powers to immobilize the Dahaka. The Prince killed it with his Water Sword, and I said my goodbyes. However, before he left, he gave me a blue stone. Who knew: maybe I would see him again for the events of Prince of Persia: the Two Thrones!


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter ten: ?: Outside Instigator

I stood at the brink of a cliff, watching the chaos below through an opening in the roof.

Saix was standing at one end of the room, nonchalantly leaning on his claymore. At the opposite end of the room was Maleficent and Pete. Inside the room it was a melee of heartless vs. nobodies.

As I watched, Saix departed, apparently bored with the situation. His Dusk nobodies remained.

I left from the edge, flying in a beeline, my dark tentacles catching on the pointed spires of the building, pulling me up with inhuman strength. I still wasn't used to seeing my own face in the mirror: the face of Johnson, Lord of Darkness and the Ruler of the Endless Abyss. The only difference was that I wore a black Organization XIII coat, and I could extinguish my powers if I blindfolded myself, in addition forcing down Johnson's remnant from the conscious section of my heart.

I landed on the spire, grabbing onto the steep side with my dark tentacles. The tentacles sprouted from the small of my back, seemingly liquid at first, then hardening into the deadly weapons that they were. In my hand was a black, spiked sword. It had originally been a double-ended katana; however, the bottom blade had snapped, and the shards from it had swirled around and merged with the remaining blade, giving it its spiky appearance. This had formerly been Johnson's weapon.

_I could go see Chris right this minute, if I wanted._ I mused. But no: it was better this way. This way Chris didn't have to see the monster I had become. I had been possessed by Johnson, and had defeated him. And then, in my battle with Chris's Nobody, Xsirch, I had been forced to allow Johnson's powers to plant themselves inside me. I had done at least that much for Chris, my best friend; allowed him to reawaken.

Now, I haunted him, appearing where I felt he needed a little push in the right direction. With the hood of my Organization XIII coat up, Chris was unable to tell whether it was me or some other member of Organization XIII. I had appeared to him once in Traverse Town, when there had been a group of heartless chasing a few young boys. I had lured him to them, and Chris ended up saving the children.

Of course, I could have killed the heartless myself. However, I needed to give him some extra incentive to get stronger. If Chris realized how much he had to learn, and how much he needed to grow before he could take on the remnants of the Organization, then he would learn and grow that much faster. I had to admit, however, that he had done an admirable job with Xaldin, even if the brunt of the assault had been thanks to Xanju.

I was also concerned with how quickly the darkness was overtaking him. He had been forced to temporarily turn into a heartless in order to unlock his heart to stop the maniac wizard Johnson one year before this. However, he used his powers to return from the heartless condition. What he didn't know was that he was not free from becoming a heartless: his power had not stopped that transformation, merely delayed it. But every minute that was spent with a negative emotion, such as anger, fear, regret, and hatred, fed his sleeping heartless. Every time he gained more power, he grew closer to his transformation. _He must either beat back the transformation, or perish._

I leaped from the spire onto a nearby roof. I peered down at the figure striding swiftly through the streets of Hollow Bastion. Chris.

Even merely seeing Chris's silhouette brought back memories. I had been pretty good friends with Chris ever since we had met. However, most of our close friendship had been formed… indirectly. I had become friends with his Replica. When his replica had been destroyed, his emotions and a good part of his mind had been returned to Chris, resulting in our kinship.

I ran across a few more rooftops, a fleeting shadow, a flying wraith. Above the city, leaping through the air, I was in my element: action.

Suddenly, I stopped.

There, running across the open courtyard, was three familiar faces.

Rodney, Ashley, and C.

_What on earth are they doing here?_ I wondered.

As I watched, Rodney and Ashley downed a pair of Heartless. They continued running towards the entrance to the Dark Depths.

_Ah… I remember now._ I frowned. _In that video game, there was a level in Hollow Bastion where you had to battle an army of heartless… their trying to preempt it._

As I watched, suddenly, a large group of nobodies rose up, cutting off Rodney and Ashley from C. A dark barrier shot up between the kids. A dark portal opened inside the same section that C was trapped in.

"Well, you're certainly looking lively!"

_Demyx…_ I groaned. _The "weakling" of the Organization. Huh… some weakling. As I recall, it took Chris a number of tries to kill him in the video game._

"Scram!" Rodney growled. However, his words were ineffective, as he was cut off from C by Demyx's barrier.

"Now, be nice!" Demyx chuckled.

"A member of Organization XIII!" C gasped.

"Oh please, this is Demyx we're talking about." Ashley grumbled. "You and him will probably end up playing a duet on your instruments rather then fighting each other."

_Oh no… Looks like I'll have to precipitate this battle…_ I groaned. I grabbed a pack of water balloons that I had clipped to my belt and began filling it from a water bottle.

"Actually…" C smirked. "That doesn't sound half bad." He summoned his guitar. It was the same design as Demyx's sitar, but with the strings and frets and sound of an electric guitar.

"You play?" Demyx asked eagerly, forgetting entirely about fighting. "I play as well, and if you are any good, I must simply ask-"

I lobbed the water balloon and bottle. While they were in midair, I used my dark tentacles to burst it. As soon as C touched a string, sending out a melodious _strum_, the water hit Demyx in the head, soaking his hood. I closed my eyes as I chuckled.

"Hey!" he growled.

_Now he's likely to fight… I hope…_

When I opened my eyes, Demyx and C were sitting side by side, strumming their respective instruments enthusiastically.

"Did I ever tell you how I fared in Olympus Coliseum with Zexion last year? It was traumatic." Demyx started telling a story. "Let me tell you…"

I distinctly remembered laughing my but off when I saw that mission… (**Flashback)**

"_Demyx was cuddling a rock over in the corner of the Olympus Coliseum's entrance, shuddering as he hid behind the golden statues outside the entrance. He had his hood up, and was obviously scared._

_"N-N-N-Nice Cerberus...g-g-good doggy..." Demyx whimpered. A few seconds later, Zexion walked out, his hair messed up and some scratches on his face._

_"You are such a wimp," Zexion growled, before smacking Demyx with his lexicon. "APPLY YOURSELF, DAMMIT!"_

_Somehow, this didn't help." __**(End Flashback)**_

_Oh my lord…_ I beseeched. _If C doesn't kill him, then it will mean that Chris will have to fight him. I don't want my friend to be put into danger._

Suddenly, C must have realized what he was doing. He stood, quickly.

"Huh? What is it, dude?" Demyx asked, standing as well.

Unfortunately, it wasn't that C had realized that he should be fighting Demyx… It was that he had seen something.

A cat.

_SHORT ATTENTION SPAN, MUCH?_

"C!" I yelled, mimicking Rodney's voice. "Stop fooling around! He'll kill Chris if he has to!"

"Whoa!" Demyx gasped, hiding behind a lamppost. My yell had had an effect. C looked down at his hands, at his guitar, and back at Demyx.

"That is true." HE muttered. Then he turned to the lazy guitarist. "Hey Demyx, will you do something for a fellow musician?"

"Sure!" Demyx smiled.

"Xemnas sent you after Chris, didn't he?" C said softly. Demyx nodded after a moment.

"Can you promise me that you will go back to Xemnas and tell him that you failed?" C asked.

"What? Are you joking! Xemnas doesn't tolerate FAILURE!" He yelled.

"Then…" C started strumming his guitar. A few columns of water sprouted around him. "I will have to destroy you. I am sorry."

C wasted no more time. He strummed. Water sprouted from the ground to meet his whims.

"Another water user, huh?" Demyx brightened. "This'll be fun!" he strummed on his Sitar. They both began playing the same song.

**(Cue song "Through the Fire and the Flames" by Dragonforce)**

C strummed. Water burst into a cocoon around him. Demyx did a similar move, and instantly they were both surrounded by water clones. Each water clone battled another one: the clones of C battling the clones of Demyx.

C ran out of clones first. Demyx only had two more clones left, but he still outnumbered C. The two water clones swung around and tried to hit C from opposite sides. C spun his guitar, smashing it through the heads of the water clones. As his fingers blurred over the strings of his water guitar, he shot forwards on columns of water. Demyx did a similar maneuver, dodging out of the way. They circled, dashing on their columns of water, fingers plucking their respective strings. C hit a high note, and a stream of water orbs shot from his guitar, aimed at Demyx. Demyx strummed a low string, and a wall of water rose up in front of him, nullifying the water ball strike.

C blasted him with a wave of water. Demyx countered with his own blast. Their streams of water warred with one another, striving to push past the other. Eventually, Demyx's blast started pushing C's back. C vaulted over his blasting jet of water and swiped at him with his guitar, swinging it like a club. Demyx blocked it with the neck of his sitar. C slid back, and unleashed a barrage of small water balls. Demyx summoned a water wall that nullified the attack. C strummed a guitar note string, and a hand of water blasted up from behind him, and gripped Demyx its ethereal fist. However, Demyx blasted it from his body with more water. He then encased himself in a sphere of liquid. C stood there, confused. Then a water clone of Demyx ran out of the sphere at high speed, and would have impaled C on a fake sitar had C not dodged. The water clone stayed there, as if frozen in time. Then another came flying out. C took the hang of it from there, running in a wide arc around Demyx. When the sphere dissipated, a large group of water clones ran at C, which he obliterated with a water geyser.

Then they both entered the guitar solo. A huge wave of water came rolling at C, a tidal wave. C strummed as fast as he could, and sent out an identical wave. Their tidal waves crashed, and vied for dominance.

Then there was a roar, and everything was covered in water for a split second. When I looked back, I smirked darkly.

Demyx laid there on the floor, injured, blood seeping from his nose, and also staining his coat in various places.

"Huh… HUH?" Demyx was so confused and scared that I actually felt sorry for him.

"Demyx… Why do you serve Xemnas?" C asked quietly.

"Because…" It seemed as if Demyx were only hearing that question for the first time. "… It's the only thing to do. Ally yourself with whoever is the strongest, you know. I can't survive by myself."

"And If Xemnas isn't the strongest?" C pressed.

"Then, I still should stay. I don't want Xaldin chasing me with his lances, or Saix or Xigbar." His eyes were huge.

"And what if I told you that Xemnas wouldn't kill you?" C kept talking.

"But… All our plans… our hopes for after we finally get Kingdom Hearts… surely…" Demyx seemed close to tears.

"Xemnas is lying."

"NO!" Demyx yelled. "I won't believe it! You're just trying to protect your friend!"

"Xemnas doesn't need you to gather Kingdom Hearts, and Xemnas certainly isn't planning on using Kingdom Hearts to give you all back your hearts."

"No… It can't be…"

"You don't need to get Kingdom Hearts to regain a heart." C said forcefully. "Xemnas is lying. You only need to abduct a heart and take it as your own. Xemnas doesn't even need you for that, he could do it himself. He just wanted you guys as his own private enforcers."

"B… But…" Demyx pleaded.

"Think, Demyx! If you needed one heart to obtain Kingdom Hearts, why collect various hearts when you could just abduct one heart as your own, even if it wasn't originally? Xemnas is using you for his own agenda. Xemnas has done worse things in his life. If he is not stopped, he will attempt to take over the worlds in the grip of the Nobodies." C bent down to the kneeling Demyx. "But there is a way. You don't have to be a tool. Even though the other members of the organization think you are a coward, you are actually one of the best people there. You have a chance to make it all up. You can become a real person, a person with a heart, not Xemnas's tool" He extended his hand to help Demyx up.

"Will you take the chance?"

"I…I…" Demyx hesitated.

C spoke one word.

"Edmy."

Demyx took his hand.

_Well, not what I expected, but It works._ I thought, turning away from the group, vaulting over the buildings. If I got to the Dark Depths fast enough, I might get there before Sephiroth.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven: Nudge: Heartless

I ran at Chris's side through the streets of Hollow Bastion. This city seemed familiar to my senses. I recognized certain smells, and certain buildings seemed familiar.

I was hampered from telling all of this to Chris, of course. Even if I _could_ tell him, I did not know what he would do. I was certain he would understand.

We rounded a turn and came upon a pair of huge doors.

I squeaked at Chris, begging with my eyes. I didn't want to have to climb. Could he pretty please open them?

At that instant, I sensed it.

I whirled around, lashing out with a tendril of darkness. T he tendril slashed the Neoshadow open. The Soldier Heartless and the pair of Deserter Heartless hesitated; they probably were shocked to see one of their own attack them. I wasted no time. I charged up a dark energy ball and blasted it at them, making them dissolve into wisps of smoke, which vanished in the air.

Chris patted my head in admiration. I basked in his presence, in his happiness, in his praise. I would die for him quite willingly. I would do anything for him.

When we had first met, Chris's powers had still been dormant. However, after years and years of wandering, being the only living Heartless with a mind, finding Chris was like heroin to a deprived addict. I had instantly seen that here at last was someone who understood me, who would accept me, who would be my friend. I had no memory of my previous life as a human, but then, after I met Chris I never felt the need to: I felt whole with Chris. He was like my soul mate.

However, ever since the incident in Hollow Bastion when we had last seen C and Rodney, There had been something different about him. For the first month we had been a natural tag team: we worked together, no matter what. However, when Chris had pierced himself with the Black Faker keyblade in order to restore the hearts of the Princess's of Heart, he had temporarily turned into a heartless. And a very powerful heartless at that; he was so powerful that he retained his human form, merely becoming what he referred to as an Anti-Form. That day, I saw something disappear from him: a segment of his being, roughly half. He was no longer as whole.

Ever since that day I felt his hold on me a bit less. I realized that I had more individual freedom then I thought I did: before that incident I was completely devoted to him. After the incident I was merely a friend and companion: at least, in my own mind. I thought that Chris hadn't noticed the change.

However, from the rate that his dark powers were increasing rapidly, I could come to only one conclusion.

Chris was slowly but surely being turned into a heartless.

Anti-Chris.

I scampered after Chris. I had been so lost in thought that I hadn't noticed that I had stopped and Chris was still walking. Before the incident I wouldn't have even had that lapse in concentration. I ran to catch up.

Suddenly, someone grabbed my and lifted me. I thrashed, trying to get away. Then I heard the familiar chuckle.

"You're certainly high strung." The small figure said, laughing. I squealed at him, before poking his stomach. It was the King.

"Hey, Chris! Wait!" he ran up after him. However, the King needn't have bothered, because Chris was standing there with a face as white as a sheet.

"King!" he snapped. "Call Leon, Aerith, Yuffie, Cid, Tifa, Cloud and everyone else! NOW!"

The King, sensing the urgency in Chris's voice, whipped out a cell phone and relayed the information. I moseyed up to Chris, wondering what was wrong. I squeaked in shock when I saw what had made Chris so worried.

There, in the plains near the Dark Depths, was a large army of Heartless. They were slowly marching towards the city of Hollow Bastion.

In a few moments, Leon, Aerith, Cloud, Tifa, Cid, and Yuffie ran up. Yuffie gave me a hug, and let me sit on her shoulder. Cloud gave Chris an acknowledging nod.

"Great guns…" Leon breathed as he watched the battle below. He looked at his friends. They all nodded. They ran off. Chris, Xanju and I were about to follow, but the King stopped us.

"Why are you stopping us, your Highness?" Chris asked, a dangerous edge to his voice.

"They can take care of this themselves." The King said, still wearing the hood of his coat up. "You guys need to go find Frostmourne. Make it so."

"But-" Chris started to protest but Xanju winked at him.

"Come on, Chris, you've got to be good." Xanju smirked. The king had his back turned, surveying the battle below.

"Yeah, let's go." Chris smirked. He opened a dark portal, and we furtively sneaked into it.

We emerged in a small slanted path. There was a large group of Heartless there. Chris raised his hands. Seven balls of dark energy rotated around them. They swirled closer and closer to his hands, and with a crackle of dark electricity, they blasted out in a combined dark ball. The ball exploded in the middle of the group of heartless, and they were slain by the blast.

"Where did you learn that?" Xanju asked. Chris looked confused.

"I… I don't… I don't remember." Chris stammered.

"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!" a voice shouted.

We froze guiltily. I covered my eyes with my antennae and let out a pitiful squeal.

The king strode across the path towards us.

"Hello, king…" Xanju tried weakly.

"Well…" the king shook his head… "You sure have a lot of friends to help." He grinned, and started walking.

I saw something fly through the air. It was headed right for the King! I started to move, but faster then me, even faster then Chris, was Xanju.

The stone aimed for the King's head slammed into Xanju's head. Xanju let out a cry, then collapsed, unconscious. **(Cue: "No more Sorrow" by Linkin Park)**

"No… Xanju…" The King was shocked.

"No! Come on!" Chris said with alarm. "Get up!"

_Wake up… _I thought.

Xanju lay there, not moving. Wisps of smoke started rising from him.

"No…" the King clenched his fist. "They'll… THEY'LL PAY FOR THIS!" he ripped off his fake Organization XIII coat, revealing his red attire beneath it. He summoned his keyblade: a weapon similar to the Kingdom Key but with reversed Color scheme, with a red connector piece where the blue piece is on the Kingdom Key. The King ran forwards, screaming a battle cry.

Chris knelt before his fallen friend. A single tear escaped. Then he stood tall. In his eyes, I saw a flash of yellow.

_Heartless_.

Dark armor curled around Chris, the outfit we had guessed was his Master Form. But there was a difference in this from the previous form. Whereas the usual Master Form was black, gray, and red armor (and required me to merge with him temporarily), his armor was entirely black. His hair no longer got the white streak that was usually evident in his Master Form. And instead of the symbol of the Heartless Hunter, the heartless symbol inside a circle with a diagonal line through it in the classic "no" symbol, there was a large Heartless symbol, pulsing with red energy. His eyes were covered by the usual blindfold. He pulsed with dark energy.

"RAAAAARGH!" an inhuman roar sounded from his lips, and I saw in an instant that the Chris I knew could no longer hold back the darkness. He was not Anti-Chris yet; merely an incarnation of a half human half heartless being: the in between phase of a man who was turning into a heartless. A Dark Chris.

Dark Chris whirled around from his fallen comrade and sprinted down the path. In his hand, his weapon Soul Eater appeared in his hands. However, there was a difference in that as well.

His weapon was double ended.

I knew that that was similar to only one thing. In the video game Kingdom Hearts I (yes, I played video games, even though I was a tame shadow Heartless), Final Form Ansem had had a weapon.

A double ended Soul Eater.

I ran on all fours with all the speed I had. I had to stop Chris!

Then I saw Xanju stir.

"What... what hit me?" Xanju muttered.

I squeaked, and pointed towards the direction Chris had taken.

"Why aren't you with Chris?" Xanju asked with a frown.

I pointed furiously, jumping up and down. Then I had an idea. I leaned down and drew a heartless symbol with a tendril of darkness. I pointed to it. Xanju's eyes widened.

We ran for the heartless army, where Dark Chris was wrecking havoc.

We passed by Leon and Cloud. I tried to tell them what was wrong, but, being a shadow, I couldn't speak. Leon and Cloud ignored me.

"Think you can handle this many?" Leon asked Cloud, as they stood back to back.

"Well, it might be tough if one more shows up." Cloud responded.

"Hmph." Leon smirked. "Then that will have to be the one _**I**_ take care of."

I ran past them. Beyond them, Aerith and Tifa were killing heartless. I actually almost paused here, because Tifa was an artist when it came to hand to hand combat. Aerith generally stayed back and healed Tifa when she took a blow.

When we passed Yuffie, she knew better then to ignore us. She quickly threw a bunch of kunais and shurikens at a group of heartless, and followed me and Xanju.

We passed King. He was too busy to help. He was battling a large group of Invisibles, and was having a tough time. Xanju stayed there to help him. I hadn't been able to tell him what was wrong, so he thought that Yuffie and I could handle it. No amount of squealing and poking would suffice, and I would never hurt my friends, so I dragged Yuffie with me.

We ran through the natural halls and paths of stone, until we reached the Battle Plain, emerging from a natural hallway between the bottoms of two cliffs that rose upwards steeply on either side of us. There we found a scene of carnage.

Hundreds of heartless lay maimed and dying on the ground. Many more had probably faded away already. There was only one heartless left, one with glass blades on his arms. He and Dark Chris were battling, neither giving an inch. The glassblade was teleporting in puffs of smoke, and would appear anywhere, either throwing shards of glass at Chris or lashing out with the long glass blades that protruded from the tops of his forearms. Chris blocked every strike. In fact, Dark Chris had a bored expression on his face. It was as if... he was only _toying_ with the glassblade. Suddenly, Dark Chris ducked under a particularly savage blow, and grabbed the glassblade by the arms.

The blades of glass evaporated into mists of darkness, which swirled around Chris, entering him like a vortex. His eyes glowed yellow through the blindfold.

Dark Chris opened his mouth. We could clearly see fangs. He bit...

Onto a large black stone that hung around the neck of the heartless.

The heartless fell back, all of his glass disappearing. He fell backwards, and the heartless-yellow in the glassblade's eyes disappeared. He fell back, his features morphing, and his face was etched with confusion. In a minute, he looked fully human.

"Huh... where the heck am I?" HE wondered. Then, his eyes rested on Chris.

"Huh?" He said in fear. "C... Chris?"

I saw immediately. This was one of Chris's friends who had become a heartless, just like Xanju had become a Nobody. Whatever Chris just did, it broke the mind control of the Darkness. The human/heartless that Dark Chris had freed crawled backwards. He espied Yuffie and me, and ran to us. We all stood there, staring at what our friend had become.

Chris reached up his hand, and grabbed his blood red blindfold.

He tore it off.

Instantly he was enveloped in a pillar of darkness. There was a screaming sound like souls being sucked down a drain.

When the darkness cleared, there he stood.

Anti-Chris.

"What have you done?" Yuffie choked out.

Cloud, Leon, Tifa, Aerith, Xanju, Cid, and the King arrived at that moment. They all gasped.

Anti-Chris walked forwards. He had no weapon. His skin was pure black, as was his hair. His eyes were a glowing yellow. From his fingers, long claws sprouted. Black smoke rose from his hands and feet.

Cloud was the first to snap out of it. His bond with Chris was the smallest. He was the first to realize that Chris was now a heartless. He charged forwards.

"No!" Yuffie cried.

Anti-Chris grabbed the blade of Cloud's sword as Cloud swung. He stopped the blade with little effort. He gave it a push, and Cloud went flying back. He slammed into the cliff wall, unconscious.

Leon ran forwards at that, gunblade ready. Anti-Chris ducked under a swing, elbow slammed Leon in the back, and kicked him in the chest when he turned. Leon hit the ground hard, and lay there, dazed.

Tifa ran in. Anti-Chris blocked her punches, and palm-slammed her backwards. She slammed into Aerith, causing them both to fall, injured.

Cid ran forwards. He lasted the least amount of time. Anti-Chris merely grabbed his spear and wrenched it out of Cid's hands, smacking Cid's head with it, dropping Cid into unconsciousness.

Xanju ran forwards, his twin scythes flying. Anti-Chris merely blasted a tendril of pure darkness at him, not even bothering with physical effort. The tendril stabbed through his shoulder, pinning him to the wall.

Yuffie stood there, as Anti-Chris walked up to her. He stood there, in front of her, as tears ran down her face. His back was to me.

Chris was gone. This horrible mockery had taken his place. And if we didn't do something, it would kill all of us.

Anti-Chris's hand went around Yuffie's neck.

"I trust you, Chris." Yuffie whispered, closing her eyes as Anti-Chris prepared to choke her.

I struck.

My tendrils of darkness slashed at Anti-Chris. Anti-Chris whirled, enduring the barrage. He ran at me. I jumped into the air, charging a large dark energy ball that shot miniature energy balls that slammed into Anti-Chris. I jumped down and tried to slash at Anti-Chris, but he threw me back into the wall. Anti-Chris jumped into the air and threw many dark tendril beams at me. I was injured by this onslaught of beams, but I managed to squeeze out and scratch his face, effectively cutting off the beam barrage and throwing him back. He stood suddenly. In a rush of dark power, he was suddenly right there. His hand clamped down on my face, and he blasted me at point blank range with a darkness blast; it took all my energy to keep from fading.

Then King Mickey's keyblade struck Anti-Chris.

A large portion of darkness evaporated from off Anti-Chris. He slumped over, gasping. You could see his dark armor now, not merely darkness. King Mickey slashed again, and more darkness left. Now he was in his normal clothes; however, his skin was still black, and his eyes were still heartless yellow. They closed as he fell unconscious. The King prepared to strike a final strike to end the threat.

"Wait." A voice said.

A man in an Organization XIII coat came up. He grabbed Anti-Chris, and picked him up.

"Who are you?" the King asked.

"I have an interest in his survival." The man said in a strange voice. "Trust me." He lifted his hood slightly. I made out his face, but they it was partially obscured by a blindfold...

_...blindfold..._

"I don't have much time." he said. "If you wish to save his life, do as I say. Now."

The king nodded. He cast quick cure spells on everyone present. We all carried Anti-Chris back to Merlin's house. The stranger laid him on the bed.

"He must sleep. Give him this, and make sure to keep him from becoming too hot." He held out a vial filled with a glowing white fluid. "He will speak in his sleep, and cry out, but you must not wake him. If he wakes up prematurely, he will become as he was before, but from that final transformation he will not be able to escape again. This is his only chance. Do you understand?"

"Yes." The king nodded.

The stranger nodded. He walked out of the house.

"Wait!" the king ran after him. "Aren't you going to stay?"

"No." the stranger shook his head, and he stepped into a dark portal. "It's better this way."

When I returned to the house, I found Yuffie sitting at Chris's bed. I curled up in her lap, like a kitten. Yuffie petted me.

"You saved me." She whispered. "Thank you. You really are his friend. You're like his son."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve: Chris Talonflight: The True Awakening

My eyes were closed. I was standing up. I was wearing a pair of dark blue jeans, black and gray Nike's, a black hooded sweater, and a dark gray jacket. I had on a black watch.

I opened my eyes.

_Oh no... not this again._

I was standing on a platform hovering in an abyss. On the floor of the platform, there was a picture of a teenager holding a black key-shaped sword. A shadow heartless was sitting on his shoulder. To his left was a group of circles, each with a face inside them. The first one was of a girl with short black hair and purple eyes, smiling happily, with a headband that seemed identical to the one I wore, except instead of the word "Xion" it said "Yuffie." Around her circle was the words "Yuffie Kisaragi Stromwind." The next face was of a teen with straight black hair, with a white-gold dash in it. He was smirking confidently, and in a line around his circle there were words saying: "C. Cruz Aquarius". The third face was of a man with a scar on his cheek. He seemed to be hefting a strange type of punching blade next to his face. Around his circle was the words "David Frostmourne." The next one was of a serious looking teen with longish hair and brown eyes, with a small lightning bolt tattoo on his face. His right eye seemed to be mechanical, and around his circle was "Rodney Castro Zeus". The last face was of a worried looking female face. Her lip was pierced, and she had purple eyes, like the first girl. Around her circle was "Ashley Lightbringer."The tiles making up the background of the pictures seemed to be white stained glass, and there was light shining through them, as well as a light far above that cast my shadow.

I knew where this was. It was the Station of Awakening. The teen with the black keyblade was me. The heartless sitting on his shoulder was Nudge. The people in the circles around him were my friends.

The station was silent. I stood there, in the center of the station, for what seemed to me like a long time.

Suddenly, across the station from me, a figure appeared. It was... myself. It was me, but I was wearing my dark armor. Or was it? No. the armor that this figure wore was slightly different. As I watched, it reached up and grabbed it's red blindfold.

He tore it off.

Instantly he was enveloped in a pillar of darkness. There was a screaming sound like souls being sucked down a drain.

When the darkness cleared, there he stood.

It was Anti-Chris.

I was shocked.

A long tendril of darkness in Anti-Chris's hand formed the shape of a katana.

I summoned Last Chaos.

"You cannot escape. You have been fated to become a heartless." Anti-Chris spoke.

"Is that so?" I smirked. "Well, a friend of mine, known as the Prince of Persia, taught me something: Fate is never final."

Anti-Chris ran at me, firing dark energy orbs I jumped into the air and spun around each individual energy orb that Anti-Chris was firing, until making contact with his face. However, Anti-Chris merely slid under my assault, causing me to fall flat, and he took no delay in jumping over me and beginning to slash at me while I was down. I managed to block one attack with Last Chaos, but he knocked it out of my hands as soon as I brought it up. He drove his dark sword into my shoulder. The pain was intense.

"You will never be free of me, Heartless master." Anti-Chris intoned. I ignored him.

Gripping the blade of the dark sword, I ripped it out of my shoulder. I spun on the ground, tripping Anti-Chris and sliding out from under him. I got Last Chaos and charged at Anti-Chris. Anti-Chris stood up, shooting a large column of Darkness at me. I rolled out of the way in a diagonal angle that put me next to a surprised Anti-Chris. He leapt back, and we faced off. I: injured. Him: unharmed. Anti-Chris then tried to slash back at me, but this was in vain, as I jumped backwards. I was then blasted backwards by the pure force of energy released from Anti-Chris when he encased himself in a column of pure darkness, and he began charging at me. I ducked and sliced at him, successfully hitting him. Anti-Chris flipped into the air and sunk below the ground like a Neoshadow, before the glistening shadow of where he sunk into began glowing and charging towards me. I ran back as fast as I could, and this proved to be effective as Anti-Chris immediately burst out of the glistening shade and caused a minor shockwave, before jumping high into the air and shooting dark energy in a wider radius around him. Before I could retaliate, Anti-Chris disappeared and reappeared right behind me, a couple feet away. I leaped away from him.

"Who are you to think that you can defeat the darkness, Heartless Master?" Anti-Chris spoke in an eerie voice.

"I'm Chris Talonflight." I growled. "If you're going to bore me to death with a lecture, then at least use my name."

Anti-Chris encased himself in a wall of darkness. I waited for him to emerge. Soon enough, he came out ready to strike; I had expected this, but then Anti Chris jumped up and fired many powerful dark spells at me. Dark Firagas.

"And why should I do that?" Anti-Chris asked. "You are the apprentice of the Lord of the Heartless. Surely you realize that you, and all of the Wielders of Darkness, are fated to return to the darkness from whence you came."

"Apprentice of the Lord of the Heartless?" I asked, incredulous, as I spun Last Chaos in a circle, blocking the wave of Dark Firagas. The pain from my wound was growing. "Where did you hear that?"

I blasted him with a wave of darkness. He countered with his own blast. Our shockwaves warred with one another, striving to push past the power point of the other. Eventually, his blast started pushing mine back. Abandoning the push-match, I vaulted over his blast and swiped at him with Last Chaos. He responded with a block and a kick in the face. I fall back, in pain from both of my wounds.

"The worlds began in darkness." Anti-Chris spoke. "And all so end. The heart is no different: especially one like yours: so attuned to the darkness."

"Yeah?" I asked. "Well… sucks for… you. I use my… darkness… to fight for… the Light."

I slid back, and unleashed a barrage of small dark energy balls. My Anti-Form summoned a dark shield that nullified the charges. I made a fist, and a hand of darkness blasted up from behind him, and gripped him its ethereal fist. However, Anti-Chris blasted it from his body with more darkness. He then encased himself in a sphere of darkness, which allowed him a moment to rest. Then he ran out, trying to impale me. I dodged nimbly. I spun, slashed, blocked, threw a shockwave, and repeated. Then, in the middle of the fourth repetition, I grabbed his arm, and threw him into center of the Station of Awakening. He ran at me. He grabbed my arm, and twisted. The pain from the wound in my shoulder was multiplied a hundred times worse. I yelled in pain. I tried to turn, but I couldn't move with my mutilated arm twisted behind my back. He pulled on it, remorseless, and my yells grew louder and louder.

"Is this the pain you felt before?" Anti-Chris asked me, as he lifted me quite easily. "Let me remind you. This time, you won't forget." His black sword suddenly glowed white. He threw me up into the air, slashing brutally as we went. My arms, my cheek, my leg, my wrist, my head, my shoulders, my chest, my back, all were sliced. Then he grabbed me in midair and threw me to the ground painfully. Then he drove the blade of his weapon straight through the center of my chest. I felt some internal organ pop. Instantly, the pain which I thought could not grow any worse multiplied. I screamed, but my scream faded into a gurgling sound. I placed a hand to my chest. I felt blood seeping through.

"Of course you use your darkness for the good of the light. Have you come this far, and yet understood nothing?" The Anti-Form replied. "Nothing in life is one-dimensional. You must look at both sides. Hatred is merely another side of love, while darkness is the other side of light. Fantasy is the other side of reality. Everything has two sides. What we think is impossible is the other side of possible. Nothing is really as it seems. That is why, though you claim to fight for the light, you are fated to become one with the darkness."

"Is that so?" I gurgled, my vision fading. Everything was fuzzy. I knew I was dying. Instantly I understood something that I had been lacking.

In that exact moment, I unleashed a powerful burst of light.

Anti-Chris was thrown back. I stood with the last of my strength, lifting Last Chaos. Suddenly, Last Chaos _changed._

It was the opposite of my keyblade. Instead of a pair of dark purple tinted black bat wings furling up to a group of black spikes, it had a pair of golden hued white angel wings furling up to a white snowflake. The keychain on it was not a black pentagram, as it was on mine, but a white hexagram. This keyblade was named First Order.

_~You know, if you insist on doing things like this, I will not save you next time...~_

"Huh?" I was dazed. In my mind, I saw a face like mine. The only differences between me and him was that he had a small scar on his lip, his eyes were slightly glowing gray, and his hair was a slightly different shade.

"What?" Anti-Chris gasped. I lifted my hand. A beam of light shot from it.

"No matter how deep the darkness becomes…" I said, with a dying effort. "No matter how strong the darkness becomes… No matter how far the darkness spreads… there is _always_ a light that will never go out."

I lifted my keyblade. It started glowing. I hovered about three feet off of the ground. Beams of light shot from my keyblade and illuminated the dark abyss that the Station of Awakening floated in. The background blackness of the Station now showed golden clouds of light. I landed on the ground, in a final burst of strength before the end. I lifted First Order. I ran towards my Anti-Form. He was staring in shock.

My keyblade scythed through his neck.

Then my eyes closed, and I collapsed. As I fell, I saw my new keyblade hovering in the air. Next to it appeared Last Chaos. First Order and Last Chaos rotated around me, before firing a beam of combined Light and Darkness at my fading body. Everything went dark-


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen: Yuffie Kisaragi: Attempted Capture

I sat next to Anti-Chris's bed. I had been here for a total of three days. He was still breathing: barely. His pulse was weak and erratic. He had a high fever of one hundred and five. I placed a wet cloth on his forehead, trying to cool him down. He was trembling. I held his hand as he battled his inner demons in the realm of his mind.

On the first day, he had talked in his sleep. Something about the difference between light and darkness. On the second day he had summoned his keyblade in his sleep. It had been pulsing with dark energy. Earlier today he had suddenly cried out, and for a full minute all of his vital signs had stopped. After that, his pulse had started again, very weak and faint. It hadn't improved since. He was breathing now, but I wondered what it was that was keeping him alive.

Nudge had left the room when his vital signs stopped, squalling in pain, and had run off somewhere. I could sympathize. I spent the next fifteen minutes thinking about all of the things that I knew about Chris

_He is devotedly attached to Nudge. He likes cheese. He's about six foot one, maybe a little taller. The first time we met he had on a black jacket. His favorite colors are black and purple, the color of my eyes. He wields darkness. He is a kind person. He likes animals. He's my age, nineteen. He's an awesome fighter. He likes video games. He saved me. He will go to any lengths to help his friends. He escaped the trials of the Station of Awakening. He knows master Yen Sid. And more then that… I love him… and he loves… me…_

_Oh Chris…_I thought tearfully_. We had so much hope… so much love… If only we had the time to actually be together… Why did this have to happen?_

Chris started twitching. I laid my hand on his brow. His fever was worsening.

Suddenly, he yelled.

With that yell, the black on his skin wisped away into dark smoke. He lay there, fully human. The pulse monitor next to him let out a flat, unending beeping noise. His heart had stopped.

I placed my head down on the bed, and started to cry.

"Why the long face?"

I sat bolt upright. Chris was sitting up, fully conscious. I stared in shocked disbelief. The equipment registered no vital signs. How was he…?

"Sorry to disappoint you." He chuckled. I noticed one disparity: this person's eyes were a glowing gray, and his hair was a slightly different shade. He also had a little scar on his lip. "I'm not really Chris."

The guy who was not Chris stood, stretching. "You're probably wondering who I am." He said, amused at my shock. "Name's Xsirch." He started walking out the door. "Give Chris my regards. Tell him he owes me." He dropped a small orb on the floor, and disappeared into a dark portal.

_What the hell was that? Where is Chris?_

The orb began glowing. It started growing. In a few seconds, it was as big as a doorway. It crackled with red electricity.

Out of the orb stepped Chris.

"Huh?" he said, dazed and confused. He tripped on the orb, which had shrunk back to a tiny size. "Yuffie?"

"Chris!" I yelled, and I threw my arms around him.

"Whoa… Wait up…" He staggered. "I'm really, really dizzy."

"I can't believe you're all right!" I whispered. "You're really all right!"

"I… whoa…." He fell down, grabbing his head. "I kinda just need to sleep. I'm so tired. You aren't going to believe what just happened."

"Here…" I helped him back to his bed. "You aren't going to believe what just happened here, either."

"Yeah…" his eyes closed. "Yuffie…"

"Yeah?" I said, holding his hand tightly.

"Wake me when you need me."

I smiled, and watched my one and only true love fall asleep.

"Well, someone looks happy."

I whirled around. Standing in the doorway was a man with red spiky hair, wearing an Organization XIII coat.

"Who are you?" I asked, getting my shurikens ready.

"Someone who, like you, misses their friend terribly." He spoke quietly. "You have a choice: come with me willingly, or come with me unconscious. Your choice." He said, summoning a fiery chakram.

"Yeah, right." I said angrily. I hurled a kunai at him. He intercepted it with a fireball. I dodged past him, slicing at him with another kunai as I ran. I stopped when I left the house: I wanted to lure him away from Chris.

"You're only making this harder on yourself." He warned.

"Yeah right." I retorted. "I remember you from the video games, Axel."

"From the what?" he looked confused. Then he threw one of his chakrams. I threw my giant X shaped Shuriken. The two weapons bounced off of each other, and fell back into our hands.

Axel raised his hands, and the four way intersection we were standing in was cut off by flames.

"Out of the way!" Axel yelled, as he ran forwards out of the wall of fire, leaving a trail of flames behind. I dodged, hurling shurikens and kunais at him. He countered with fireballs.

"You won't forget this!" he yelled. He threw his chakrams forwards in a saw like motion, ending the combo with an assault of columnized flames. I threw a smoke pellet, and used my stealth to reappear behind Axel. I slashed at him with my kunai. Axel stumbled, before catching my giant shuriken with his chakrams and throwing it to the side.

"I honestly don't know what Chris see's in you." He said, advancing on me with flames dancing in his chakrams.

Suddenly, a dark portal appeared behind me. I instinctively ran through it. Axel cursed, but before he could follow, it closed. I found myself in a small alcove.

"Are you all right?" a voice asked. I looked up. Three teenagers surrounded me. One of them was a girl with brown hair. The other two were boys: one chubby and with black hair, the other fit and in shape with blonde hair.

"Uh… I think." I looked around. I was in a small hang out space, obviously the hang out area belonging to these three kids. "Um… where am I?"

"Twilight Town." The brunette answered. "Don't you know where you are?"

"Um… No?" I tried.

"My name is Olette." The brunette said, introducing her friends. "This is Pence and Hayner. What's your name?"

"… Yuffie." I said. I was still confused. "Um, can you tell me the way to Hollow Bastion?"

"What's Hollow Bastion?" the kid named Hayner asked.

"Never mind." I now realized that I was in another world.

_How in Fantasy did I get here?_ I wondered. _That dark portal that let me escape from Axel must have deposited me here! But… how van I get back to Chris?_

"Do you guys know a guy named Chris Talonflight?" I asked.

"Erm… I seem to remember someone by that name…" Pence thought. Olette, however, clapped her hands.

"Oh, I remember! He was that cute guy who stopped by here a while back!" She said excitedly.

"_Cute guy?" Who does this chick think she is? That's my boyfriend she's talking about! _I thought angrily. _This underage chick is going to have some explaining to do before I find out how to get back to my own world! Though she IS cute…_

"So you know him." I frowned at the girl. "Did he say if he was going to come back?"

"He'd better come back!" Olette said passionately. "I'm planning to give him my heart!"

_I am slowly going to succumb to the urge to strangle this girl. Why'd she have to be so darn cute?_ I thought. What I said was: "I… I see."

"You're turning red." Olette said.

_That's because you're annoying me, you little brunette fluff._ My hand started inching towards my giant shuriken.

The blond kid, Hayner, spoke up. "Are you a friend of his?"

_OH CRAP._ "Yes, as a matter of fact, I am." I said, looking at Olette out of the corner of my eye. "We're quite _good_ friends." Placing extra emphasis on the "good."

Olette's face turned slightly pink. _OMG, she's even cute when she blushes! I swear, if Chris was involved with her… _ My hand inched closer to my shuriken again. _This is one fluff that isn't going to enjoy her stay._

"Well, Chris told me to keep an eye out for any friends of his." Hayner said. "Do you have a place to stay?" Pence nudged Hayner at that, muttering something under his breath that only my ninja-trained ears could hear. I flushed slightly.

"No, I don't, as a matter of fact. Olette flushed slightly, as I stared at Hayner. _So, she's playing both sides: Chris and Hayner. _Little slut.

Suddenly, a dark portal opened a few feet away.

"…Chris?" I asked, tentatively.

A pair of green eyes looked out of the darkness. A familiar chuckle was heard. I got a glimpse of a fiery chakram.

"RUN!" I yelled to the kids, and readied my kunais.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen: Chris Talonflight: Beginning of the End

"Chris, you can't go yet!" Aerith pleaded. I ignored her, strapping on my left side armor. I clicked the gauntlet into place, and flexed, feeling the metal move like a second skin.

"You cannot possibly be recovered already!" Merlin protested. I ignored him too. I pulled on the leather glove that covered most of my right arm. It had white and red lines snaking up its length. I looked at it curiously. _Those weren't there before…_

"Chris _please!_" Tifa begged. "You can't just leave!"

"Watch me." I said calmly. "I have to go save Yuffie."

"You nearly killed the poor girl, not to mention the rest of us." Leon said, striding into the room. "There is no guarantee that you won't relapse and become that heartless again."

I slammed my gauntleted hand against the wall. "And what would you have me do then, Leon? I am the only one who can save her! You know what we're up against; Xemnas could have her killed at any time. I can't take that risk."

"And if you kill her instead?" Cloud said softly, leaning on the doorframe.

"Cloud… I thought that you, at least, would understand." I looked at the warrior. His huge sword was in its sheath on his back. "What would you do if Tifa was captured?"

Cloud started, began to say something, then smiled slightly, shaking his head. I nodded, and started putting Materia into their slots on my armor.

"Tifa wouldn't get captured in the first place: she'd kill whoever tried to get her." Leon smirked. "And if she somehow _did_ get captured, she'd find a way out within a week."

"And what would you do, Leon, if Aerith got captured?" I hissed. Leon froze, started to say something, then scratched the back of his head.

"Okay, just because I'd do the same thing that you're doing doesn't make it the _right_ thing to do." He protested. I shook my head, and grabbed the headband that Yuffie had given me.

"Chris, you're still not well enough." Tifa blocked the door.

"Out of my way." I growled. My eyes felt weird.

"No." Tifa looked me in the eye.

I grabbed her arm, trying to force her out of the way. Her other hand immediately came down on the back of my neck. I fell with a grunt.

"He shouldn't be getting up for a few days." Tifa said coldly. I lay there, still.

"That was pretty hard, Tifa." Leon said, eyes wide. "You might just have worsened his condition."

"No, its just a paralyzing bruise to the spinal cord. Not even Sephiroth can shrug off one of those." Tifa shook her head. "He won't be able to move for a few days, and by then, he'll be well enough to travel…" She trailed off as her eyes landed on me. I was on one knee, slowly rising, grabbing the doorframe for support. My eyes were locked on her.

"Open. The. Door. Now." I growled. I stood.

"My god…" Aerith gasped. I turned to look at her. Her eyes were stunned.

"Your eyes…" Leon said. "Your hand…"

I looked at my hand. The white lines on the glove were glowing. I looked in the mirror that Leon had tacked to the wall. My eyes were glowing with white light.

Tifa moved.

I dodged.

Tifa slammed into the book shelf behind me, her paralyzing blow missing my neck by inches.

"Why did I bother using the door?" I asked, muttering. I merely made a dark portal right below me. I fell into it, to the surprised gasps of my friends. Then I noticed something.

Intertwining with the darkness was a few tendrils of light.

I emerged in Twilight Town.

I walked down the street, looking for the Usual Place, Hayner, Pence, and Olette's hang out area, the place where Yuffie would appear in if Namine had indeed tried to help her escape Axel by giving her a dark portal.

Suddenly, I arrived at Tram Plaza. There, Seifer and his two friends were being thrashed by Dusk's.

It was laughable, really. I had not even had that much contact with the Organization during this whole confounded trip. Okay, maybe killing Xaldin had got me on their bad side…

Anyway, I was itching for a way to let out my anger. I summoned my keyblade and started running at the Dusks.

_Well, I guess its too much to hope for that I would get that keyblade of light again...___I sighed as I looked at my dark keyblade, Last Chaos. The red lines on my glove were glowing, as was the pentagram that was the end of the keychain on the hilt of my keyblade.

I sliced a dusk in half, ducking under the slowly fading body and uppercut slashing the next one. I really had no particular desire to battle on Seifer's behalf, but I would take what I could get.

The third Dusk slashed at me with its sharpened arms. I grabbed its arm, the black metal on my arm and hand protecting me, and swung him in a circle, making him collide with the remaining Dusk. I fired a Dark Firaga out of my keyblade. However, what I had originally intended as a dark Firaga ended up as…

…an ordinary Firaga.

_I thought I couldn't do Light-based magic! _I thought. _Could it be… when I was at the station of awakening… That keyblade… I used light…_

"Hey!" Olette called, running from an alleyway. I groaned. _Oh god, not the underage girl with the crush on me… _"Chris! Come quick! It's terrible!"

"What happened?" I demanded. "Where's Yuffie?"

"How did you know it was about her?" Pence asked, arriving an instant later.

"NEVER MIND HOW I KNOW IT'S ABOUT HER! WHERE IS SHE?" I demanded.

"She's gone." Hayner said grimly. "Some guy in a black coat with red spiky hair came and kidnapped her!"

I cursed, slamming my weapon into the ground.

"What have I told you guys about annoying me?" Seifer arrived, his bat held high.

I whirled.

I slammed my fist into his stomach. Seifer fell with an "oomph."

"Obviously, when someone puts you in your place with Struggle, it doesn't work." I growled. "I guess I'll have to be a bit more violent…"

Seifer blanched as I summoned Last Chaos, then fled, calling for his mommy.

"Come on." I beckoned Hayner, Pence, and Olette to follow. "There's something I think you should see." We strode out of the town, and soon we were at the Old Mansion's gates.

"Stay back." I cautioned. I entered the clearing. There, battling a group of Nobodies, was the King.

"Having trouble?" I asked, as I entered the fray. In minutes, the nobodies were all dead.

"You know what I'm here to do, your Majesty." I said. I wasn't about to let him try and take me back to Hollow Bastion.

"Oh course!" he exclaimed. "And I brought you some help!"

Standing next to him were two heartless and Xanju.

Nudge was ecstatic. He leaped on my shoulders and wouldn't stop hugging my head. Xanju merely smirked, and clapped my on the back.

The other one was a Neoshadow.

"Are you…" I asked. "… Trufflehunter?"

Back when I had been battling Johnson, Johnson had created a replica of me to aid him. However, the replica had turned on him, joining my side. My replica had a Neoshadow tame heartless, just as I had Nudge as my tame heartless. His Neoshadow was named Trufflehunter.

Trufflehunter nodded. He patted my shoulder.

"Lets get going." The king said. We started walking to the mansion.

"Wait!" Hayner, Pence and Olette were running got catch up with us.

"We think that there's an alternate Twilight Town that's mimicking the real one!" Pence piped up. "Maybe they kidnapped Yuffie to make a copy of her!"

"You're more right then you know." I smirked. "Come on."

We entered the old mansion. I recognized the White Room, Namine's drawing room. I eventually found the Library. However, The holographic covering that obscured DiZ's secret retreat was gone. We could clearly see the stairwell. I also saw two footprints in the dust. Both sets lead in, although one set was plainly newer then the other.

"Who was this?" I wondered. Shaking my head, we continued. Eventually, we found ourselves at a bank of computers.

"Anyone know how to operate these?" I asked, looking pointedly at Pence. Pence sighed, and sat down at the computers.

"Well…" He said, his fingers dancing across the keys. "It's a portal system."

"So lets go." I sighed. "We have to get through it."

"I already have." Pence said, and he pressed a final key. A beam of light shot up from the floor, in a vortex about one foot wide. "If you touch that beam, you should get through."

"Right." I nodded. "Listen, Pence, Hayner, Olette, I want to thank you. You guys have helped me in more ways then you know. I certainly hope that I succeed in what I am setting out to do. If I succeed, then promise that I will come back and visit you guys." I looked at the three friends. "You take care of yourself, Hayner." I chuckled. "Make Seifer lose."

"You betcha!" He said, smirking.

"Keep up the good work, Pence." I clapped him on the shoulder. He smiled and waved.

"Be good, Olette." I waved.

"Wait!" Olette cried. "You can't just leave! Not yet! Wait!" She tried to grab me, but I pulled away.

"There are people who care for you here, Olette, far more then I ever could. I'm sorry." I nodded at Hayner. He nodded back. He grabbed Olette, keeping her from running after me.

_God, of all the idiot kids…_

I touched the beam of light, and stepped through. I emerged into the room in which I had awoken from the white pod. It seemed like a lifetime ago…

"Welcome, apprentice!"

I stared. Ansem stood there, arms folded.

"What are you doing here?" I demanded.

"You told me yourself to meet you one year from when we finished our battle in Castle Oblivion." Ansem seemed surprised. "I have come at a great personal risk to meet you. Why are you so ungrateful?"

"Oh… I did?" I asked. "I'm sorry, but after I left Castle Oblivion something happened with my memory. I can't remember any of the events of Castle Oblivion, or anything from that time period, actually."

"I see." Ansem said softly. "Perhaps, with the trauma you underwent there, it is for the best." Emerging from a doorway behind him was Nhoxj. Ansem evidently didn't know that the Nobody was behind him. Nhoxj seemed equally surprised to see me and Ansem.

"Maybe." I shrugged. "Marluxia must have been tough. Even so, though- Hey! Nudge! Stop!"

Nudge and Trufflehunter were charging Ansem. Nhoxj, thinking that he was under attack, deflected them with a PSI attack. Ansem's eyes widened, and he summoned his heartless guardian. Then Xanju, thinking we were under attack, charged in with his scythes, and I could only stand by helplessly. Nhoxj and Nudge clashed hand-for-claw in a battle that seemed to go on for quite a long time. Nhoxj's PSI abilities kept making most things go his way, but even then he still wasn't winning. Nor was Nudge. Nudge's sheer dark power, along with his wit, speed and agility, were high; However Nhoxj's abilities, along with his stamina, evened the fight quite easy. Nudge barely broke through Nhoxj's defenses, but when he did Nhoxj got one crap-load of a beating. Of course, Nhoxj would be able to push back Nudge quickly, making it a battle that seemed to go on forever. The deciding factor of who would win would be how many cure spells and potions would be consumed before someone ran out. Nudge jumped into the air, charging a large dark energy ball that shot miniature energy balls that slammed Nhoxj with as much force as a baseball being thrown at him from a power cannon. Nudge jumped down and tried to slash at Nhoxj, but Nhoxj threw Nudge back into another wall. Nudge got up and charged again at Nhoxj.

Trufflehunter and the Xanju were fighting against Ansem and his shadowy Heartless guardian. Xanju fired a blast of bloody nothing at Ansem, but Ansem easily deflected it into Xanju's face. Xanju was hurled backwards, and Trufflehunter took charge, jumping into the air and throwing many dark tendril beams at Ansem. Ansem was injured by this onslaught of beams, but his Heartless guardian slashed at Trufflehunter, effectively cutting off the beam barrage and throwing Trufflehunter into the unused pod. The force from this was so great the pod instantly shattered, with the metallic skeleton of the pod collapsing and falling onto Trufflehunter, crushing him badly. Nudge (having been thrown into ANOTHER wall from Nhoxj) saw this and got even more enraged. Nudge growled, then charged directly at Ansem, in a homing fashion that made Nudge look like a cobra about to strike. Nudge jumped into the air and mercilessly slashed at Ansem and his Heartless guardian, knocking them back and dealing a good damage amount. Nudge landed right next to the Xanju, who was getting up. Both of them turned and saw Trufflehunter trying to break free from the wreckage, but he wasn't doing so well. Nhoxj charged towards the distracted Nudge and Xanju, effectively sending them both into the air and smashing them against the ceiling, which caused the ceiling to crack. Nudge and Xanju landed behind Nhoxj, but Xanju managed to kick Nhoxj in the back. Nhoxj flopped over and landed on his face. Getting up, Nhoxj saw Ansem, still dazed from Nudge's assault.

"I assume we should team up for the time being?" Nhoxj sarcastically asked, already knowing the answer. Ansem looked down at Nhoxj, before returning eye contact to Nudge and Xanju, who were just getting up. Nhoxj jumped back up and stood side-by-side with Ansem.

"Teaming up… how unfortunate... for them!" Ansem mutually agreed, before they all charged at one another, ready to end their brawl.

Nhoxj was thrown back into me. I tried to stop him, but he ignored my yells. He was battling heartless, and he was in his element.

Ansem tried to slice at Nudge and Xanju, but not even he could pierce their excellent defense and counter strategy. Xanju would block Ansem's attacks, and then Nudge would take the split second opportunity to slice up Ansem with his dark claws. No matter which direction they attacked from, the results was the same; nothing could help them win. Nudge growled as I yelled, trying to stop the melee. Ansem backed up a bit, before firing a large dark fireball at Xanju and Nudge. Grinning, Nudge jumped over the fireball and slashed at Ansem, sending him back. Nhoxj got up and tried to use his powers to blast Xanju and Nudge back, but to no avail, as Xanju hit Nhoxj into a wall with his scythe.

"This is honestly sad," Xanju laughed, before being hit in the face with a dark blast from me.

"STOP!" I yelled.

Everyone froze.

Around us, in a swarm, was nearly an army of Dusk Nobodies.

"What-" nearly everyone said.

"Back to back!" I yelled. Everyone who had been trying to kill each other a moment ago suddenly went back to back in a huge circle.

"See what happens when you guys ignore me?" I raged. "You guys could have killed each other! Why did you all attack without listening to me?"

"Chris, you may be the keyblade wielder, but in all of the video games, Ansem is the bad guy." Xanju protested. "It was instinct. And as for that PSI guy, well, he's a Nobody."

"So are you!" I yelled. That shut Xanju up. Nudge cowered guiltily.

"Sorry about that, Ansem, Nhoxj." I grimaced. "Their used to killing heartless and nobodies. They-"

"It's all right, no need to apologize." Nhoxj waved it off. Ansem merely smirked, before blasting away a group of Dusk's. I unleashed a barrage of black lightning, and many Dusk's fell, twitching before fading away. Nhoxj merely blinked. For an instant, his eyes glowed red, and everything seemed to change color for a split second. Then Nobodies were flying as if they were inside a ping-pong machine.

We heard the sound of soft clapping. Xigbar stepped out from behind a pillar.

"Sorry folks, but this is the end of the line for you." He grinned.

"You!" I said, summoning my keyblade.

"Yes, I know, I'm amazing, aren't I?" Xigbar said in his conceited voice.

"Are you done rambling?" I growled.

"Rambling? As if!" He snorted. "All I'm going to tell you, traitor, is that your time is up!" he summoned his arrowguns.

"You know, you really shouldn't have betrayed us," Xigbar noted, chuckling sarcastically. I ran as fast as I could towards Xigbar, but Xigbar used his power over space to warp out of the way. I looked around for Xigbar, before turning around and meeting the barrel of Xigbar's arrowguns right in my face. Then something pushed Xigbar away, and Nhoxj stepped up.

"I see you." He said, making Xigbar stumble with a PSI blast. Xigbar growled, before shooting Nhoxj point-blank. Nhoxj fell over onto the floor, an energy arrow embedded in his face. Xigbar just began a rainstorm of energy arrows down upon Nhoxj, grinning.

"I guess this is what happens when you let anger take control of you. Sad," Xigbar noted, as he continued his assault. Pretty soon, Xigbar ran out of arrows.

"R...for Reload!" Xigbar announced in his trademark quote. Nhoxj, against his body's pain, tried to blast another PSI wave at Xigbar, but Xigbar teleported out of the way. Nhoxj fell over, seemingly defeated. Xigbar reappeared in front of Nhoxj, grinned and pointing one of his arrowguns at him.

"Say hi to Xaldin for me," Xigbar laughed, before firing his arrowguns.

My keyblade sliced the arrows in half in midair. Nhoxj took the opportunity to use his PSI limit break. Xigbar slammed into a wall, into the ground, was flung into the air, and then started being smacked around at such high speeds from nothing that he was already knocked out before it was over. Xigbar then plummeted to the ground, landing a couple feet away.

"… Nhoxj…" I stammered. "How… _just how powerful are you?_"

I, Ansem, Nudge, Trufflehunter, King, Nhoxj, and Xanju stood at the arena where my nobody, Xsirch, had battled Axel. The ground still bore burn marks and scratches from Axel's flame powers and Xsirch's keyblade strikes. At the opposite end of the arena was an oscillating dark portal.

"You guys ready for this?" I asked. My companions nodded. Nudge and Trufflehunter were here because they were my two tame heartless. Nhoxj and the King were here to fight against the Organization. Ansem was here to try and retrieve his true body from Xemnas. Xanju was here to stop the prejudice against Nobodies. And I was here to save Yuffie.

We entered the dark portal, and emerged in a strange area. It seemed to have no walls, and was made up of blue and red moving walls that were so far away that you couldn't reach them. The floor was non-specified. There, battling the army of nobodies, was Rodney, C, the King, and Ashley! With them was a man with red spiky hair, wielding a pair of Chakrams. When his eyes set on me, his expression lifted. Axel.

"Hey!" I yelled, slicing a swathe through to them.

"Glad you made it." Rodney's eyes flicked to my companions. A shadow Heartless, a Neoshadow heartless, Xehanort's Heartless, and two deadly nobodies, one of whom once tried to kill us.

"They're with you?" he asked. I nodded.

"Good." He said. We formed a ring. We battled the nobodies for a long time, with no avail.

I dodged through a throng of them, and clamped onto the back of a samurai nobody. He thrashed wildly, and he accidentally tore into two other Dusks. I leaped off of the dying nobody and whirled through a group of dusks, decapitating with my Soul Eaters, and occasionally changing to my keyblade to fend off a group of Samurai Nobodies. However, the sheer number of nobodies in the immediate area was far too great for me to continue my rampage alone. I ended up retreating back to my friends.

After a long while, the Nobodies retreated. They still numbered in the hundreds, but they must have been ordered back. I lowered my swords, and I saw Xanju and Nhoxj kneeling on the floor of the area, a glow surrounding them.

"What is it?" I asked, alarmed.

"We've… taken control… of the nobodies…" Xanju gasped. "It's hard… we're interfering with Xemnas's willpower… We can't hold it for long… Get us out of here!"

I nodded. Axel, the man with the spiky hair, looked as if he would much rather keep fighting, but he reluctantly followed out little army.

We emerged from the area. We now stood in an alleyway in a world that I kind of liked:

The World That Never Was.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen: Xsirch: Trial

I opened my eyes. How long had I been waiting? Who knew? To me, I had all the time I'd ever need. It's wasn't like I cared how long I'd have to wait anymore. It was already over for me from the start. I'd been tricked my whole life, or rather, half-life. Now all I needed to do was to make sure the Keyblade's Chosen, my somebody, was able to succeed where I failed. The last thing I wanted was to see Organization XIII win, but I knew I couldn't face them alone. If I could lose to Chris's friend, David Frostmourne, then I had no doubt that the remnant of Organization XIII, Xemnas, Saix, and Luxord, would finish me off, even with the loss of the Castle Oblivion team, along with the recent losses of Demyx, Xigbar and Xaldin, not to mention the defection of Axel. My best friend.

I was in my black cloak, standing atop the Memory's Skyscraper, clenching Order and Chaos tightly. The sky, as always, was obscured by a thunderstorm; lightning flashed within the dark clouds, barely illuminating their outlines. I looked to the sky, wondering if there really was a blue sky behind the black clouds. Maybe it was just darkness. Who knew? _Probably the Organization, but like they'd ever tell me._ I was just a Nobody. Lucky Number XIII, Axel called me.

"13 is no lucky number," I spat out to the winds. Continuing to look down upon the Dark City, I saw a figure run across the base of the Memory's Skyscraper. I recognized him as the King, except he had on red fighting gear. The King was dashing past the Skyscraper, heading towards the Organization's Castle That Never Was. I just looked away in disgust when the Castle got into my field of vision. I never knew that I could despise the color white so much. Then again, it probably wasn't the paintjob of that dreary castle that mocked me. It was the inhabitants. Preferably Xemnas and Saix, who deserved a good smack down. I looked forwards at the dark horizon, taking a moment to think about something I had never thought about before. The stability of The World That Never Was.

"Is this world just doomed to fade like all Nobodies?" I wondered out loud. I knew no one could hear me, so why bother thinking? "What's out there...beyond this city? Just more empty dark houses? Or maybe some fields? Are those fields storm-ravaged and water-logged like the rest of the city? Or do Heartless not even we know about roam those plains? I wonder… What would it take to tip the balance? This world is already so dead; wouldn't it be easy to turn it to darkness?" I wondered.

As I thought, pondering questions, I noticed the storm letting up. The heart-shaped moon that contained the brilliance of Kingdom Hearts peeked through the clouds, illuminating the forlorn, dark, abandoned world. I looked downwards at the pavement below Memory's Skyscraper, and I saw a figure dart out of the buildings. Behind him was a large group of beings walking across the pavement slowly, following their leader at a more leisurely pace. I knew all of them, thanks to Chris's memories, although none of them knew me. Nudge, Rodney, Axel, Ashley, Xanju, Trufflehunter, Ansem, Nhoxj, C, and Chris. Chris, the Keyblade's Chosen. I took note that Chris had become much more powerful; _the whispering rumors I heard those Dusks exchange with each other here while they were on patrol must be true._ Chris stopped and looked up at the large skyscraper, obviously sensing me. Or maybe it was just because the storm had let up and Kingdom Hearts was visible now. Either way, it was time to figure out the last piece of information I needed to know. I flipped back up my hood and dismissed my Keyblades, before opening a dark portal behind me; hopefully the last one I would ever open in my life. It was time to finally test this so-called Keyblade Master's worth.

I emerged from the dark portal in front of a surprised Chris. Without so much as a cocky fighting line, I summoned Chaos, having it form in my right hand out of darkness.

"A...Keyblade!" Chris shouted, amazed. I ran in, charging towards Chris, about to slash downwards to strike him down. Chris got his own Keyblade up, and he blocked against my assault. I stared down at Chris. A bright light suddenly enveloped us both. I jumped backwards as we materialized in the Station of Awakening. Chris was shocked at the sudden change in scenery; now he was standing on mere glass, surrounded by an endless dark abyss, with an Organization member standing in his way to destroy him. What I saw was just a test trial to see if Chris was all he was supposed to be, what he was said to be, what I knew he could be. Chris got Last Chaos ready, but I made the first move by spinning my two blades: Order and Chaos. Chris stood ready for combat, and I threw my two Keyblades in a spinning motion. Chris was thrown backwards.

"TAKE THAT!" I shouted. Chris then tried to slice at me, but I turned into an illusion and moved out of the way. Chris went to my new position and tried to attack again, but I jumped into the air. Chris looked up, only to see me come down at him from directly above, spinning my Keyblades as I did so in a sawing motion. Chris was blasted backwards, but he spun in mid-air and regained balance. Chris, injured from the attack, cast a Cure spell on himself as I became another illusion; I flew right behind Chris and tried to do my first, spinning circle blade attack. Chris, however, countered and began unleashing his own combination attack on me, sending me into the air as I attempted to block. Chris continued with his combo attacks, hitting my keyblades mercilessly, until I managed to counter with my aerial spin blade attack. Chris dodged the attack, but his cheek dripped blood from getting sliced a tiny bit. Chris spun back upwards and tried to attack me, but I turned into another illusion, came behind Chris, jumped upwards, and dashed downwards with my spinning blade attack.

I ran at him, and Chris also ran to meet my charge. Last Chaos faced Order and Chaos.

Our Keyblades were about to clash.

Unfortunately, I made the wrong move, and I attacked too early; Chris beat my keyblades into the air with a single swipe, and then he stuck his hand into the air.

"GIVE ME STRENGTH!" Chris shouted. Immediately, I saw both my Order and Chaos Keyblades fly down to Chris, hovering on either side of him. I landed on the ground, and Chris unleashed his striking attacks, with my own Keyblades flying at me. He kicked me in the face. I was knocked over, some blood coming out of my nose from where Chris's shoe had made contact. I growled, and began sending out columns of intertwining darkness and light. Order and Chaos began taking most of the slices, but Chris still had to move to avoid being hit by the columns that made it through. Soon enough, I got a good foothold after ducking and weaving past the autonomous Keyblades. Punched Chris in the face with a darkness induced punch. Chris was blasted back into the ground, still wielding my own Keyblades.

"_Man, this guy is tough!" _I angrily noted, as I continued to shoot columns of light at Chris from my position. Chris dodged this attack, but now more columns of darkness began appearing around Chris, trying to entrap him at my whim. Chris ran out of the way as fast as he could, while I turned into an illusion and tried to attack him from behind while he was distracted with the columns of light and the columns of darkness.

`"It's over!" Chris shouted, as he turned around, and began attacking me with the three Keyblades. I tried to move back, but I was caught in the frenzy of Keyblades and was slashed at repeatedly with all three Keyblades at once.

Strike after strike.

"_I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!" _I mentally shouted. I kicked Chris away before reclaiming both of my Keyblades again. Chris and I landed on separate sides of the battlefield on the station, before we both charged at each other. Our Keyblades clashed in the center of the station, with neither one of us giving in.

"Who...who are you!" Chris desperately asked.

"Someone from the dark," I answered. Both Chris and I jumped back. I slowly stood up as a thought crossed Chris's mind.

"You can't be... Frostmourne?" Chris asked, hoping I was everything but that. I, unknown to Chris, smirked within my dark hood, before looking slightly downwards at my Order Keyblade.

"Frostmourne? I defeated a Frostmourne once..." I revealed. That was definitely NOT what Chris wanted to hear at all, because a dark look came over Chris's face.

"What?" Chris asked, more surprised than scared. _Chris should be scared however; if it takes him this long to beat down me, he'll have no chance against Xemnas!_ I got my Keyblades into a battle stance, before speaking again, my voice slightly laced with curiosity.

"Tell me...tell me why he picked you!" I demanded, before charging at Chris. My Keyblades dragged across the glass of the station, creating sparks at the tips clashed with the glass. Chris jumped backwards as he missed one slice, before he used his own Keyblade to defend against another attack. I tried to slash downwards at Chris with my Chaos Keyblade, but Chris slammed his own Keyblade downwards into the Chaos Keyblade, getting it stuck in the ground. I tried to pull it free, but Chris kept his grip on his own Keyblade firm, keeping Chaos stuck in the ground as he did so. I then jumped into the air, with both my Keyblades, and fell behind Chris. While Chris was stunned, I tried to cut at him, but Chris jumped into the air. Chris grunted, getting ready to attack me again. I defended myself by blocking Chris's attack and sending him into the air. I followed him. Chris ended up upside-down as he saw me charge at him. Time seemed to slow down as the two of us got close to clashing. When our Keyblades met, not one of us gave up an inch of our ground for a split second. Then I pushed him to the ground, but Chris got his footing quickly, with no scratches on him. I floated in the air effortlessly, looking down upon Chris on his own heart's station.

It was then I realized I just found the answer to my own question.

Where Chris was standing was between the five light blue circle of his four closest friends.

Yuffie Kisaragi.

David Frostmourne.

Rodney Zeus Castro.

C Aquarius Cruz.

Ashley Lightbringer.

"I see. That's why," I uttered. Chris just assumed I was about to strike again, and he gripped his own Keyblade in a defensive stance, ready to counterattack. I dropped down quickly and slashed at Chris, but Chris jumped backwards, making the attack useless. I flew forwards, spinning my Keyblades like saws, making Chris continue to spin and fall back.

_Perfect._

I then managed to catch Chris off-guard, and I began crashing Order and Chaos down upon Chris. Chris stuck up his lone Keyblade to defend against the onslaught of attacks. I continued bringing down the stream of strikes, constantly hacking and slashing. Chris didn't give up his guard... but soon enough, he fell to one knee in exhaustion. I sliced sideways unexpectedly, throwing Chris's Last Chaos out of his hands. Chris's Keyblade skittered across the ground of the station, landing at the feet of the inscribed Chris. The real Chris scrambled to his feet and charged for the blade, but I stuck down Order right inside the handle of Last Chaos, making Chris skid to a halt on his own knees. I pointed Chaos at the unarmed Chris, the blade pointing directly at his face. Chris looked down in semi-defeat, which was enough for me. Then I saw Chris helplessly reach for his Keyblade. Instantly, Chris's Keyblade disappeared. I looked down in stunned disbelief.

"What!" I shouted. That lapse of concentration made it all for Chris, as he resummoned his own Keyblade in hand and sliced downwards, perfectly slashing my keyblades out of my hands and pinning my shoulder to the station.

Chris...had won.

But, surprisingly, I wasn't mad. In fact, I even smiled a bit as I lay there. Now, Chris could kill Xemnas. A small flashback wormed its way into my mind, and I let it take me.

"_I first found myself standing outside the mansion in Twilight Town. I was wearing my street clothes, and I recognized this scene in time instantly. This was my first memory. The time I was "born." In front of me, a dark portal opened, with a figure walking out to greet me. The figure looked down at me, before giving off a small smile._

_"You seek answers...I can give you purpose..." the man chuckled, waving his hand in front of me. Several see-through ethereal letters appeared, spelling out the word "CHRIS." The man waved his hand again, and the words began spinning in a bright blue halo around me. Before long, the figure stuck his hand out, and a golden ethereal see-through "X" appeared in the scrambling of words, forming out the words "XSIRCH." I looked up, before recognizing my new name. Or rather, since this was my memory, my old name._

_"Xsirch…" I uttered. Looking up, I saw the smiling face and tiger-orange eyes of Xemnas._

_"That is right. The new you," Xemnas answered."_

"You are such a pain."

The words broke through my flashback. I was lying on the Station of Awakening, still alive. My Organization XIII coat was ripped from all the places Chris had managed to slash me. Chris himself was holding a Cure Materia to my injured shoulder.

"I certainly hope we won't be doing that again, huh?" he asked me, totally serious.

"I'm…" I felt my body. "I'm alive…" I looked at my somebody. "I thought… You were going to kill me."

"I was." He said. "I changed my mind. You're free to go."

"Why?" I asked. "I just tried to kill you."

"Yes, you did." He removed the Materia, re-inserting it into the slot on his armor. "However, considering that you're my nobody, I have reason to keep you alive."

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused. "If you kill me, you get my power, and you'll be whole again."

"Actually… ever since I defeated my inner heartless, I've been doing some thinking." He said, standing. "When I was about to die you… saved me."

"Ah, yes. That." I winced. "Well, back then, if you died, I died too, and I didn't want to die."

"And you used that instance where my heart was conflicted to escape from me." He nodded. "In all perfect honesty, that's something I would never think to try." He admitted.

"It worked." I sulked.

"I know." He smiled. "You did all of this to test me, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I had a feeling you would figure it out." I smirked.

"Well, you did this because you thought that you couldn't kill Xemnas yourself, right?" he asked.

"yes…" I admitted.

"See, that's where I don't get it." He smirked. "If you can't beat Xemnas by yourself… you bring in reinforcements."

"What are you driving at?" I asked.

"Why don't you simply join us? Fight with us?" he asked earnestly. "You may not be able to kill Xemnas… and heck, maybe I can't even kill Xemnas… but together…" he held out his hand. "Together we'll be unbeatable."

My eyes glowed. "Yes… that makes sense." I stood, allowing him to help me up. "So then, Somebody…"

"… Let's kill some Organizers." Chris finished.

I raised my eyebrow. "'Organizers?'"

"You know…" he cast around. "Organizers… the people who make up an Organization."

"Fail." I laughed. It felt… Good.

"Let's go." He opened a light and dark portal.

We stepped through.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen: ?: Jailbreak

I watched as Yuffie sat despondently in her cell. She was furious at herself. I smirked.

_Almost time… If only Namine has her part right… _I thought. I replaced my blindfold, and felt my dark powers drain away. I had come to rely on them far too much. I still had my other weapons with me, concealed beneath my fake Organization XIII coat: Punching Blades, chain, gold punch knife. However, I had been recently relying on my dark spiked sword, and on the powers left over from my possession by Johnson.

I had met with Namine and DiZ, and together we were going to come up with a plan. I was supposed to cause chaos, and make the Organization think that I was trying to kill Xemnas, in order to distract them, and keep their efforts focused upon me. Namine was going to spring Yuffie, and would get her out of the castle. DiZ was planning to get a machine he had built up to the Crooked Ascension, and use it to destroy Kingdom Hearts. I he stood next to me now, disgusted that I was still helping Namine.

"It's time I got to Kingdom Hearts." DiZ muttered. "Chris is already heading there, and I doubt he's going to stop for anything," DiZ grunted. DiZ opened a dark portal, giving him safe passage to the pathway below. "Coming?"

"No." I shook my head. "I'm aiding you by causing chaos, remember?"

"Good. See that you do." DiZ walked into the dark portal.

I waited for Namine's signal. Suddenly, I saw a flash of light from down the hall. _Now_.

I ran through the halls, and arrived at Yuffie's cage right on time. Yuffie was just exiting, Namine having let her out.

"You guy's ready?" I asked.

"YOU!" Yuffie said, stunned. "You're the one who gave me the vial of liquid to save Chris!"

"Yes." I grabbed my hood, and pushed it back. "Recognize?"

"D… David? David Frostmourne?" she whispered.

"Yeah." I nodded.

"Why are you blindfolded?" She asked. "are you all right? Where have you been?"

"I can't answer all of those questions right now." I shook my head. "You probably don't want to know. However, I fear I have to answer the first one now, before you find out." I grabbed the blindfold. Taking it off, I was enveloped in a cloud of darkness. When I emerged, I bore the too-perfect, cruelly beautiful face of Johnson. The dark tentacles sprouted from my back.

"JOHNSON!" Yuffie screamed, scooting backwards, terrified.

"It's still me." I reassured her. "Its Frostmourne." When Yuffie stopped shaking with fear, she touched my face.

"How did this happen?" She whispered.

"I got possessed." I answered grimly. "I managed to defeat it, but in order to use his powers, I have to take on his likeness- OH CRAP, _MOVE!"_

I pushed Yuffie out of the way, and took out the Dusk that had been sneaking up on her.

"We need to go." I said.

"They took my weapons." Yuffie pointed out. "Do you have any to spare?"

"Actually, the King gave me something to deliver to you." I smirked, and I handed her a small orb of light.

"What is it?" She asked curiously. Suddenly, she yelped, and the sphere of light merged with her skin, disappearing into her body.

"WHAT WAS THAT?" she hissed.

"Look!" I pointed to her hands. Yuffie looked, then gasped. In her hands was…

… A keyblade.

Its handle was in the shape of a four-pointed shuriken inside a circle. Its blade was like a line of kunais placed side by side, the points becoming the cutting edge. The tip of the key was an eight-pointed shuriken.

"The Ninja's Blessing." I intoned softly. "Your keyblade."

"I… have a keyblade…" Yuffie was still in shock.

"WE NEED TO MOVE." I sighed. I grabbed her arm and started dragging her with me.

This was going to be tough…

We had made it past Twilight's View and had successfully bashed through an ambush waiting for us in Nothing's Call. Crooked Ascension was only a step away from the lower interior of the Organization's castle, but I had never expected to come across a Berserker here.

I slammed my punching blade into it's head. It didn't have much effect except to make it grow huge. Cursing, I ripped off my blindfold. I had replaced it so that I didn't unnerve Yuffie, but I had to use it now. I slashed at the Berserker with my dark spiked sword. The Berserker then shrunk to a miniscule size, and his hammer began slamming into the ground towards me at great speeds. I, however, anticipated this, and dodged out of the way. When the Berserker returned to normal size, I again charged at the Berserker to try cutting it down to size. This time, One Face, as I had finally named my spiked sword, made contact with its flesh and tore right through it, ending the Nobody's misery in one blow. Replacing my blindfold, I turned around and walked down some stairs into a corridor.

"_The Hall Of Empty Melodies…" _I thought, as we entered said hall through the corridor. We walked quietly, trying to avoid detection. The Hall Of Empty Melodies was comprised of two floors: the top floor being an overlook, with the bottom floor being a simple straight pathway leading to a door. In the pathway, however, was a large square of metal many yards square, a perfect arena. We were on the overlook, searching for a way out. Namine was drawing as we went, making a map of the castle so that we wouldn't get lost. _Why doesn't she just merge with Yuffie?_

Suddenly, a large group of Dusk's appeared around us.

…_uh-oh… _I thought. _Shit._

"Protect Namine!" I ordered Yuffie. Yuffie was quite good with her keyblade, Ninja's Blessing, but was slightly awkward while carrying it.

I ripped my blindfold off again. Summoning my One Face, I slashed away at the Nobodies that surrounded us.

"Just give up, it'll be easier." Yuffie growled at a nearby Dusk.

Several Dusks fell. However, they suddenly fell back, disappearing into their portals.

"Shoot!" I yelled, going back to back with Yuffie, Namine cowering in a corner, unable to battle.

Heartless were spawning.

Suddenly, a Shadow leapt for Namine.

And disappeared into nothing.

Namine was scribbling furiously in her notebook. As she wrote/drew, Heartless began dying. _Is Namine killing the heartless with memories?_ I wondered. Whatever she was doing, it was working.

Then, a heartless smacked the notebook out of Namine's hands.

Me and Yuffie slashed left and right, killing Heartless everywhere we turned. Namine ran after her Notebook. However, suddenly, a Shadow Heartless leapt for her. It pinned her down.

A primal roar shook the castle.

A young man appeared in our midst suddenly, lashing out with two keyblades, killing the heartless pinning down Namine.

"You okay?" He asked gently.

"Xsirch?" I asked, thunderstruck.

"Yuffie!" a voice yelled. I turned, and saw Chris lashing out with his keyblade, killing many heartless. Nudge, Rodney, Axel, Ashley, Xanju, Trufflehunter, Ansem, Nhoxj, C, and Chris.

Everyone.

Chris had brought a virtual army to the Castle That Never Was.

I turned to go. They didn't need me. Chris could do this on his own. Chris didn't have to see the monster I had become. I opened a dark portal, and turned for a last look before I went through.

"Johnson." Chris said. I paused.

"I don't know why you went to save Yuffie. I honestly don't." He said. "But either way, you set her free. Thank you."

I nodded. I turned to go.

"WAIT!" Yuffie yelled. "Don't you see? Its not really Johnson!"

"…Huh?" Chris was confused.

"Come here." Yuffie grabbed my hand. She put it on top of Chris's hand. "Close your eyes."

"FROSTMOURNE!" Chris tackled me! "I knew I'd find you! Why the hell haven't you come to say HI?"

"I'm… A monster." I muttered. "Look at me. I can't even stay human; I have to take on the body of an Inquisitor."

"So? Who cares? I don't." He talked excitedly. "You think you had it hard? Hey, I turned into a freaking _heartless, for Gods sake._" He grabbed my arm. "You're coming with us."

"You…" Xsirch muttered.

"Uh… Hi." I said. _I beat the poor kid down last time I met him. How am I going to face him?_

"It's all right." Xsirch smirked. "I beat you in the fair fight. You only won after because you cheated."

Soft applause filled the Hall of Empty Melodies.

"Nice display, intruders." A voice spoke. "However, I believe your fun is at an end."

Saix stepped forwards, out of the gloom. Axel gasped, and leapt at him.

"Lea? Why have you thrown your lot in with these rebels?" Saix asked.

"You are responsible for the deaths of my friends." Axel stated ominously.

"Those two fools you put your faith in? Pathetic. I bet you still think friendship is an emotion you still have. Like I told you before, which would you rather suffer the loss of: some make-believe friendship...or a real one?" Saix reminded Axel.

"Your words contradict themselves, Saix," Axel pointed out. "You say Nobodies cannot feel emotions or attachments like friendship, yet you try and make me think we're still friends? SAI WAS MY FRIEND. Not you."

"...Lea was my friend. I never befriended some fool named Axel," Saix grunted, getting his claymore ready. Axel just laughed insanely.

"So, you really DO remember our good times as friends?" Axel laughed, sporting a near insane grin. Axel's face then began twitching, and his face slowly contorted into a face full of anger, hate, and rage.

"I'M SO FLATTERED!" Axel screamed, causing a large column of white flames to appear behind Saix blocked him from escape. I and my friends watched, impressed and amazed. Axel looked up, scowling. His black coat turned fiery orange and red, with black markings on it. Final-Form Axel was here.

"BUT YOU'RE TOO LATE!" Axel finished, throwing both his chakrams at Saix. Saix, bewildered beyond belief, put up his claymore and bounced the chakrams back. Axel caught both chakrams like boomerangs, and he ran directly towards Saix in the style of an assassin. Saix swung his claymore in an arc, and Axel jumped over it, drop-kicking Saix to the ground before firing multiple Fire spells from his chakrams. Saix swung Axel off of him by re-summoning his claymore, and Axel stood there, waiting for Saix to charge. Saix then jumped up into the air, claymore in hand.

"Moon shine down!" Saix bellowed, and in that instant, Saix began glowing an electrical blue. Axel just stared at him in disgust. Saix charged down again to smash Axel's head in, but Axel did a High Jump, flying directly past Saix as he smashed his claymore into the ground, causing a shockwave. Saix charged, and Axel jumped at the last second, making Saix run directly into a column of white flame, ending Saix's berserk moon-powered spree. Saix gripped his face in pain as he was burned by the fire and flames, and Axel jumped into the flames themselves. Saix looked around, confused. Soon enough, Axel burst out of a small hole in the flames, charging at Saix. Saix was smacked away by Axel's attack, which also left a trail of white flames in his place. Axel jumped into the fire again, and Saix expectantly waited. Axel burst out of the top of the firewall this time. Saix jumped up and away from Axel, missing his attack just barely. Saix threw his claymore down, and it hit Axel back, knocking him to the ground. Saix jumped back down and grabbed his claymore, before swinging it wildly. Axel grinned, before putting one arm in front of him. The light in the area dimmed to a point where it was noticeable, and Axel then grinned.

"You won't forget THIS!" Axel taunted, before throwing his chakrams in a saw-like motion. Saix was repeatedly battered down by this onslaught, before Axel jumped into the air and launched a blast of white flames in a columnized assault that slammed Saix backwards. As Saix spun around in mid-air to regain balance, Axel stuck out his hand. A ball of fire ignited at his fingertips, and launched itself at his opponent. Saix was hit square in the chest by the fireball, and Saix fell directly to the ground. Axel then slammed his hand on the ground, and a large column of fire knocked Saix into the sky back at Axel. Saix claymore fell next to Axel, and Axel grabbed it, waiting. Saix fell dangerously close to Axel, and Axel swung the claymore, effectively hitting Saix directly in the side. Saix was knocked straight into the firewall. Saix re-summoned his claymore and used it to stand up...before being hit in the chest by one of Axel's chakrams. Saix was knocked over, and his claymore crashed to the ground, disappearing in a flash of light. Axel then sighed, and the firewall disappeared. Axel stared at Saix. Saix somehow managed to stand back up, looking directly at Axel.

Axel turned around, back facing Saix. "This is for giving Xsirch hell during his time in our Organization!" Axel said darkly. "GOT IT MEMORIZED!" Axel snapped his fingers. Saix screamed out as the chakram embedded in his chest exploded in an imitation of a hand grenade. At the same moment, the entire room was filled with flames. Axel stood up, a being entirely composed of fire. His arms encircled Saix in a deadly embrace. Saix screamed in pain.

_This… This is Axel's REAL final limit break!_

Eventually, the flames went out. Saix fell to the ground, parts of him beginning to disappear like small fragments being carried off by the wind. He faded quickly into nothingness with out a sound. Axel collapsed. Pieces of him began flaking off.

"Axel!" Xsirch yelled, kneeling by him. He looked at his friend painfully.

"Did I overdo it?" he asked, chuckling.

"… a bit." Xsirch laughed, but it ended in a sob. "Axel… Why? We're here… alive. Why did you do it?"

"I… can't stay here anyway, Xsirch." Axel gasped. "There's too many memories. Believe it or not, Saix was once my best friend. And… having killed him… I can't, Xsirch. It's better this way. You have Namine… I'm superfluous."

"But Axel…" Xsirch was crying.

"You'll be...better off now...Xsirch... It was my choice...to go away now..." Axel encouraged with his dying breaths. "Besides… that was the only… way to stop… Saix… Better that...than to do nothing...and let Xemnas have his way…"

"AXEL…" Xsirch sobbed.

"I need you to do me a favor." Axel gasped. "…you can't…let Xemnas have Kingdom Hearts…you can't…"

"I wont." Xsirch nodded through the tears.

"Good-bye…Xsirch…" Axel faded away.

"….grrrr…." Xsirch and Chris growled.

"ORGANIZATION XIII!" Xsirch yelled. We all charge through the corridors. Searching for Xemnas.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen: Rodney Castro: Timebender

"I wonder how well you play the game of life." A voice asked.

I turned with the rest of my friends. Instantly, a wall of cards appeared, cutting off Me, C, Xsirch, and Ansem from the rest of our group. The cards rotated around us faster and faster. Suddenly, we were alone with Luxord.

"You!" Xsirch growled.

"I'd rather we just skipped the formalities." Luxord hissed.

"Get real." I smirked.

"The first one to run out of time is the loser." Luxord foreshadowed.

C started sending streams of water to slam into Luxord, but Luxord just snapped his fingers. Immediately, cards with the Nobody insignia on them swiftly cut through the barrage. I fired electric blasts at him. Then Ansem ran at him, Guardian heartless ready. It slashed at Luxord, and dealt an uppercut slice that knocked Luxord back.

"Let's see how your fate resides in the chips," Luxord wondered, before surrounding Ansem with cards. Instantaneously, Ansem was transformed into a six-sided dye with his face being on the "1" dot. Ansem began hopping around, as Luxord continued toying with him using his cards' strength.

Luxord then began spinning his cards in mid-air like a magician. "I guess the time has come for one of them," Luxord chuckled, before snapping his fingers. C was immediately enveloped in cards, and before we knew it, he was transformed into a single card.

Xsirch slashed at Luxord. He hit Luxord in the face, knocking Luxord's cards out of his hands. I ran up, slashing at him. Luxord snapped his fingers, and a pair of dice flew out at me. They exploded, hurling me backwards. Xsirch was blown back as Luxord resummoned his cards, getting horribly injured by Luxord's diamond-edged cards. I used Thundaga magic and hit some of Luxord's cards. They fell from his hands. Then Luxord raised his hands, and we were standing on a shifting floor of cards, Luxord hovering above them.

"Time is illusory." He chuckled. "Fate controls destiny, but destiny can be altered by mere decisions." Luxord got his remaining card ready and stared at the injured Xsirch.

Luxord snapped his fingers and encased him in a wall of cards. This wall of cards was disrupted by a couple stabs and slashes. Xsirch fought his way out, only to fall and be covered by the cards covering the floor. I could see his outline as he thrashed, trying to escape.

Luxord pushed me back, swinging his cards like a chain in a deadly circle. Ansem manage to break out of the dice, and he summoned several dark weapons floating around him, and sent them into a spinning attack. I stayed back, hurling numerous balls of electricity. I summoned six balls of electric energy around me.

"Equaled yet?" I asked. I then sent each of the blasts towards Luxord in a machine gun style. I charged through Ansem's floating weapons, with my Thunderedge katana-broadsword combination weapon in my hands. Luxord responded with a blast of razor edged cards. I summoned a lightning shield around me. Then Luxord slammed Ansem to the floor and sprang towards me, whirling his cards.

"Ahh!" I heard Ansem yell. I dodged Luxord's attack, and turned to look. Several Dusk Nobodies had clambered all over him. They were rapidly being decimated, but more were appearing every second. As powerful as Ansem was, he was in danger of being overrun by the army. I rolled towards him and sent out an electrical shockwave, blasting back the army, and giving him some breathing room.

Suddenly, a pair of keyblades sprouted from the card-covered floor, slamming through Luxord's chest. Xsirch! Luxord fell back, in pain. In a desperate attempt for survival, he lifted his arms, and was surrounded by cards.

It didn't work. My Thunderedge slashed through the cards as if they were paper. Luxord fell, his cards dissolving, C returning and Xsirch being freed.

"Why…" Luxord gasped.

"Why do you even serve Xemnas?" I asked.

"It is a… gamble, child." Luxord gasped. "_Life, to… me, is just … a game to be won... And I had all the__**time**__in the world to do it…"_

Luxord faded.

I had never liked that gambling Timebender.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen: The King: Ansem the Wise

"DiZ, this isn't right anymore," I mentioned.

"I respect your opinion, but this is my plan," DiZ growled, walking past me.

"What are you planning to do now?" I asked.

"The only logical thing to do: destroy Kingdom Hearts," DiZ revealed.

"WHAT?" I shouted. DiZ just turned his head back.

"This machine I carry has that power." DiZ intoned, placing a hand on the large beam emitter. "It's purpose is to encode Kingdom Hearts and store it as data. There it will be safe from those who wish to misuse it."

"But doesn't at least Xsirch and Namine, and the repentant Demyx, get a chance to have a heart?" I pleaded.

"The Organization will not get their hearts back. They do not deserve it," DiZ growled. "No one. Not even Xsirch."

"You've seen what he's been through! How could you say he should be denied a heart if he wasn't meant to be born without one in the first place!" I shouted. "He was supposed to be with Chris all along!"

"Because all Nobodies deserve to perish. It's their fate," DiZ growled.

"What about people with hearts? We perish sometime too!" I argued.

"Yes, but at least we have purpose," DiZ growled.

"Don't Nobodies have a purpose?" the King retorted.

"How could something that doesn't exist have purpose?" DiZ mentioned.

"Xsirch and Namine are helping Chris get to Xemnas so that they can save Kingdom Hearts!" I squalled with exasperation. "Your plan and Xsirch are the same! And further, without Xsirch's work while he was _still_ with the Organization, _you would never even have gotten this chance._"

"SILENCE!" DiZ screamed. "My plans are not the same as a mere Nobody's plans! He has no right to have even HELPED to manifest Kingdom Heart's majestic presence!"

"Yet you still would have no chance to destroy the organization without Xsirch!" my point struck home.

" Kingdom Hearts is still, nonetheless, an entity not worthy of a Nobody's control!" DiZ shouted.

"Is it worth a person with a heart's control, then?" I retorted " After all, you do see Maleficent, and Johnson, and other people who are fighting for Kingdom Hearts' eternal power!"

"But they're beings steeped in darkness! All they want is power! My vengeance is completely just!" DiZ retorted.

"Weren't you sunk into the dark realm for what seemed to be an eternity?" My eyes narrowed. DiZ froze.

"Well, either way it will not matter." DiZ shrugged. As we walked up the pathway he reached up and began removing his facial bandages. He was revealed to be an older man with golden hair.

"So, you _are_ Ansem." I muttered. "I had a feeling you would show up again. And that explains your reasons for wanting revenge. However, I still disagree with your plan."

"As I said before, I respect your opinion, but this is my plan." Ansem kept walking. "Although I am having my own doubts, it is far too late to turn back now."

"You could have come to me before things got so bad, though." I said softly. "Why didn't you?"

"Because this is my destiny: to destroy the Organization, no matter what the cost." Ansem/DiZ placed the Kingdom Hearts encoder on the railings of the outside walkway, pointing the beam emitter up towards the sky. "I wish Xsirch and Frostmourne, and even, upon reflection, Namine, the best in their un-lives." He gazed up at the heart shaped moon. "Be free from Xemnas, now, Hearts of emotion, hearts that make up this moon." Ansem said softly. To me he explained. "That was the password. The encoder works on a voice command. However, once started it cannot be stopped."

"But what if something goes wrong?" I asked, alarmed.

"Then I perish." Ansem said simply.

We waited, watching the machine do its job.

"Did I ever tell you?" I started. "Chris also had the power of light."

"Does he?" Ansem/DiZ was surprised. "I always knew that a dark warrior could not fight for good as he did. So it turns out he is a warrior of light as well."

"He doesn't have an affinity for it the way he has an affinity for darkness." I continued. "It seems to come out when he is backed into a corner: a limit break, perhaps."

"I don't know." DiZ shook his head. "All I know is that if he does not kill Xemnas, all of our plans- WHAT!" Ansem/DiZ froze for a second, and ten started laughing.

"How could I have been so foolish?" HE said, laughing. "I should have realized it sooner."

"What's happening?" I said, alarmed. As I watched, the machine started to shake and smoke.

"Kingdom Hearts is overloading the encoder." Ansem/DiZ explained. "I failed to realize the complexity of a heart, its depth, its emotions, and its power. No, the encoder cannot even begin to calculate a _single _heart." He laughed again. "All along, the thing stopping both me and the Organization finally comes to light: EMOTION."

"But… you said the encoder couldn't be stopped." I said, confused.

"It can't be." He replied. "And so it will explode, taking me with it."


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen: Chris Talonflight: Xemnas Solo Battle

A green beam of light raced from the machine DiZ was holding. The King was standing there, next to DiZ. Xemnas was in the process of shaking his head in a nobody's interpretation of futility.

"The machine, its overloading!" The King cried.

"There you are!" Xsirch said, his anger rising. "You're the one who made me do all of this!"

"I know…" DiZ said sorrowfully. "And I apologize."

"'you apologize?' What, you think a simple 'I apologize' is going to cut it for what you did to me?" Xsirch roared.

"I never did like him." I muttered so that no one could hear. "Bit I still don't want him dead."

"Frostmourne, Xsirch, Namine… I admit… it is a rather feeble attempt." DiZ chuckled. "But, the end of one's life tends to see things differently... I'm sorry. I used you like tools in my plan against organization XIII. And now it ends."

"I will leave you to you fate, master." Xemnas disappeared into a dark portal.

"Chris." Ansem the Wise said. "It is up to you now. Kill Xemnas. Hurry!"

At that instant, the machine DiZ/Ansem the Wise was holding exploded. The force knocked me off of my feet, and I landed on top of someone. It turned out to be Mickey.

"Frostmourne!" I yelled. I saw a figure in an organization XIII coat lying on the floor.

"huh?" Frostmourne stood. His face.

He was back to normal.

"Alright, now I kind of don't feel so bad for Ansem." I admitted.

"How can you say that?" the King roared. "he just gave up his life!"

"He's alive." I said calmly. "Relax. It says It in the video game."

That earned a collective "HUH?"

Frostmourne shook his head. He ripped open his coat, revealing his white vest and black pants.

"This thing looks familiar." He lifted a keyblade. Its handle was in the shape of his punching blades stuck together. It's blade was a spiked sword. And the top of the key was his golden punching knife.

"Don't tell me it fused your weapons into a keyblade." I teased.

Frostmourne had a stricken look on his face.

"NOOOOO! MY WEAPONS!" HE roared.

I, Frostmourne, Yuffie, The King, Ashley, Xsirch, Namine, Rodney, C, Nudge, Trufflehunter, Nhoxj, Xanju, Ansem/Xehanort's Heartless, and Demyx all stood in front of the Altar of Naught. Standing before us, staring up at Kingdom Hearts, was Xemnas, the last surviving loyal member of Organization XIII (Demyx was no longer loyal).

"Its over Xemnas." I pointed my keyblade at him. My comrades did the same with their weapons.

Xemnas merely snapped his fingers. Instantly, I disappeared.

I opened my eyes in a hovering platform. Around it were ethereal buildings floating in a glowing gray void. In front of us was Memory's Skyscraper, and a few yards of plaza. And standing before me was Xemnas.

"Guys?" I yelled.

Xemnas slashed at me. I and Xemnas landed on separate sides of the plaza, before we both charged at each other. Our weapons clashed in the center of the plaza, with neither one of us giving in. We jumped back. I jumped backwards as I missed one slice from Xemnas, before I used my Keyblade to defend against another attack. Xemnas tried to slash downwards at me with his Interdiction, but I slammed Last Chaos downwards into it, getting it stuck in the ground. Xemnas tried to pull it free, but I kept my grip on my own blade, keeping his ethereal blades stuck in the ground as I did so. Xemnas then jumped into the air, with his blades, and fell behind me. Xemnas summoned a cloud of lighting bolts. I dodged nimbly. I slid behind him, and engulfed him in a wave of darkness. Xemnas merely teleported out of the way, and ended up above me. Xemnas spun his ethereal blades at me. I spun, my sword clanging off of his blades. He pushed me back, swinging his weapon in a deadly circle. I summoned six balls of energy around me. "Equaled yet?" I asked. I then sent each of the blasts towards Xemnas in a machine gun style. I charged through Xemnas's next attack, with my two Soul Eaters in my hands. Xemnas responded with a blast of thorns. I summoned a dark shield around me. Then I _pushed_.

The shield slammed into Xemnas at high speed. Xemnas was injured badly.

In a flash we were back at the Altar of Naught. Xemnas crouched before us, starting to fade from his wounds. Then all of a sudden, he disappeared.

In his place stood a large door.

How far away from me now my past life was! Over a year ago, back when I was living on Earth, I would never even dreamed that I would be standing here, on the Alter of Naught, at yet one more Final Doorway leading to The World of Nothing, and with Heartless, Nobodies, a mouse, and humans, too. And yet here I was, standing in front of the door, about to enter, ready to confront our most deadly foe. I was no longer the person who had walked into C's apartment in Washington Heights, Manhattan, New York, USA, Earth, Reality, that day over a year ago that all of this had begun, and sent me on this sometimes nightmarish, sometimes heavenly, sometimes plain strange and many times mysterious journey. I was in truth what I had only dreamed of on Earth: Chris Talonflight, world traveler, wielder of powers both dark and light, and in love. This was it. Beyond this door we would either save the worlds, or be swallowed by nothingness. Once again, things had come full circle. It was time to end this.

"Get ready Xemnas!" I yelled. "It all ends here!"

I looked around at all my friends here around me: Frostmourne, Nudge, Yuffie, Xanju, Ansem, Nhoxj, King, Nudge, Xsirch, Namine, Trufflehunter, Rodney, Ashley, and C. Six humans, four Nobodies, three Heartless, and one mouse. I raised my keyblade. Ashley, Xsirch, Frostmourne, King, and Yuffie each raised their weapons. A bright light glowed at the tips of each of our keyblades. The doorway glowed, and then opened.

Far off, Xemnas stood at the top of a white tower.

"So, it seems your hearts have led you to obliteration." Xemnas intoned. "Perhaps it does not pay to be too loyal to one's heart."

"Up yours!" Rodney yelled. Xemnas got an ugly look on his face, and with a twitch of his hand, a building came hurtling at us. It slammed into the ground, creating a shockwave. Everyone was blown back. Frostmourne managed to grab the edge of the doorway, and snagged Xsirch as he went flying past. I had put up a dark shield around myself. Then the doors slammed shut, cutting Me, Xsirch, and Frostmourne off from our friends.

"We can take him on our own!" I yelled. Frostmourne and Xsirch nodded.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter Twenty: Chris Talonflight: Final Battle

Xemnas sat on his throne, an imposing sight. At least, it would have been imposing had not just been defeated… again.

"I need… more rage…" He muttered. "I need… more hearts."

"Xemnas." I said, feeling a momentary stab of pity. "There's more to a heart then just anger and hate." I couldn't help but feel sorry for him. "Don't you remember?"

Xemnas stared at me, uncomprehendingly. "Unfortunately… I don't."

We had fought our way through the first two final battles: the throne battle and the dragon/throne battle. It was only me and Frostmourne left now. I knew what was coming: this was the Final Battle.

Xemnas suddenly raised his hand. We were overcome by a wave of light. When it cleared, there didn't seem to be any specified walls, ceilings, or floors; it was just an empty void. Around us, in areas seemingly far away from our position, were swirling portals with large orbs of light in the center. There were mixes of light and darkness within the entire area, although the color of the area we were in was white-dominant.

The Realm of Nothing.

"Heroes from the realm of light." Xemnas said. "I will not allow it to end this way; not yet."

"Isn't that obvious? I mean, this IS the Final Battle for a reason, you know." I pointed out.

"If light and darkness are eternal," Xemnas continued, "then surely we nothings must be the same!"

"Your right." Frostmourne said. "Light and darkness _are_ eternal. But guess what, Xemnas… THAT DOESN'T MEAN _YOU'RE _ETERNAL_._"

"Why do you despise me? I am merely a nobody who wishes for his heart back." Xemnas asked.

"That's simple." Frostmourne pointed his keyblade at Xemnas. "You mess up our worlds."

"So…" Xemnas said slowly. Power started crackling in his hands. "Your hearts have indeed led you to Obliteration…"

I and Xemnas clashed blade for blade as we continued charging at each other, merciless in our attacks. I jumped into the air and fired my Keyblade downwards at Xemnas, who promptly deflected both of them with a twirl of his Ethereal Blades. Xemnas enveloped himself into a sphere of electricity, which made me confused. Suddenly, there was a loud shrieking sound, as the terrible silence of the World of Nothing was torn by a sonic attack. _I've got to outlast this! _I thought desperately, covering my ears with my hands. Soon enough, the orb burst and Xemnas ran out at the speed of light, almost killing me in one hit with a sharp slice from his ethereal blades. I ducked and sliced at him, successfully hitting him. Xemnas disappeared and reappeared right behind me, a couple feet away. He began floating slightly. I continued running as Xemnas fired a large flurry of beams of black and white thorns. I smiled as I saw the weak point here; his attack was powerful, but it was slow-moving, and I could easily counter if I got closer. Taking the opportunity, I ran forwards and went right behind him.

"The Nothing is eternal!" Xemnas shouted. Before Xemnas could even turn around to hit me, I began slashing at him with my Keyblade, beating him up mercilessly. Soon, the attack ended, but I continued my attack. We clashed; his Ethereal Blades against my Soul Eater. Xemnas pushed me back a few feet, before I did a back flip behind me. I landed, and fired a bolt of dark energy at him. He dodged it, and began firing blasts at me from his hands. I used the darkness to propel me through midair in a gliding move. Then I called on Frostmourne to throw me towards Xemnas. My ally did as required, as well as conjuring a dark shield around me when I landed behind Xemnas. Xemnas was distracted with fending off Frostmourne, and I took the opportunity to kick him down. However, Xemnas then summoned a circle of electricity around him, knocking Frostmourne into a wall. I then engaged him in a slashing duel for a few moments. Then, when I again locked blades with him, I summoned a storm of black electricity. The storm slammed into Xemnas, sending him flying.

"Welcome to the end." Frostmourne muttered, preparing to strike Xemnas. I jumped into the air and spun around each individual energy orb that Xemnas was firing, until making contact with Xemnas' face. However, Xemnas merely slid under my assault, and took no delay in jumping over me and beginning to slash at me while I was down. I managed to block one attack with Last Chaos, but Xemnas knocked it out of my hands as soon as I brought it up. I spun on the ground, tripping Xemnas and sliding out from under him**. **I resummoned Last Chaos and healed myself from the wounds I had received.

"You shall go together!" Xemnas said. Xemnas stood up, shooting a large column of light at me. I rolled out of the way in a diagonal angle that put me next to a surprised Xemnas. Xemnas encased himself in a wall of light. I waited for him to emerge. Soon enough, Xemnas came out ready to strike; I had expected this, but then he jumped up and fired many powerful fire spells at me. Frostmourne leaped in front of me, and conjured a shield.

Suddenly, Xemnas raised his hands.

The light in the area dimmed to darkness.

"There's no such thing as true light!" Xemnas hissed.

Thousands of ethereal beams surrounded us.

_SHIT SHIT SHIT!_

Xemnas closed his arms in a throwing motion.

_Time to mash the triangle button._ I grinned inwardly.

Frostmourne and I twirled and spun our keyblades as fast as we could, deflecting the thousands of ethereal beams conjured by Xemnas.

Suddenly, a bright light shone. It blinded us.

Suddenly Xemnas was there, slashing at Frostmourne. Frostmourne tried to block, but was pushed back into me. Me knelt down, dizzy, trying to clear his head. Xemnas pointed his ethereal beam at him. Right before he struck, Frostmourne blocked, and pushed me out of the way. He took the hit that was aimed for me right in the side.

"David!" I yelled. It was the first time I had ever used his first name. I started charging at Xemnas.

"Chris!" Frostmourne held out his keyblade, and I grabbed it. I plowed into Xemnas with the two keyblades, slashing and cutting. Then I launched myself into an uppercut, sending Xemnas high into the air.

I held out the hilt of my keyblade to Frostmourne.

Last Chaos _changed. _

First Order.

Frostmourne placed his hand on mine at the hilt of the keyblade.

A Circle of light appeared around the keyblade.

A beam of bright light shot from the tip, stabbing straight through Xemnas.

Xemnas faded.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty-one: Chris Talonflight: Homecoming

"You did good, Chris." Frostmourne said weakly, before collapsing.

"Hey come on!" I said, helping Frostmourne up, letting him lean on my shoulder. "We've got to get out of this place!" I said. I tried to open a dark portal, but my powers were exhausted. I had put everything into that final, beautiful, deadly blast of light from the keyblade.

"I… I don't think I'm gonna make it." He shook his head. "And even if I _could_ go… look where we are."

"Honestly…" I said, shaking my head. "We can do it."

"How can you say that?" he asked.

"You've been hanging out in darkness too long." I said, and supported him as a portal of light appeared. "You'll see."

We emerged on a deserted beach, in the light of a sad-looking moon, a desolate place. The only sound was the sound of the surf, the sound of the ocean.

"Help me down to the beach." Frostmourne requested. I helped him sit down.

"This reminds me of when we were all together in Traverse Town." I mentioned.

"Back when we were battling Johnson. When all of this began." Frostmourne sighed.

"The worlds of light are safe now." I mentioned.

"A world is made up of both Light and Darkness." Frostmourne replied. "The worlds of light are safe now. And so, we'll be the darkness."

We sat there for a long, long time.

Eventually, something bumped Frostmourne foot as it rested in the edge of the waves. Frostmourne picked it up. It was a corked bottle, with a piece of paper inside.

"It's for you." He handed me the note.

_Dear Chris._

_There isn't much chance of you ever finding this, so I'm sure it doesn't mean anything. However, I'm going to say it anyway: I love you._

_Ever since I met you I felt something different about you. You were the only one who understood me, the only one who was more interested in healing me then in hurting or ignoring me. In short, you were the one. That day when we first kissed I realized that I loved you. I ran away from you because I was afraid of myself and what I could do to you. Then you set me free of that, and you took away my oppressor. You can't know what it means to me to have him out of my life now. What I told you at the Endless Abyss is still true: I love you._

_When you disappeared for a year, I was distraught. I had no idea what was happening. I knew that I loved you, but I just couldn't remember who you were. It was hell for me. But when Rodney came back and explained it to me, I realized that you had more responsibilities then just me. And I don't want our relationship to be with me trying to own you. I love you._

_I want you more then anything in life. But I want you only if you want me; Your happiness comes before anything else. I love you._

_And once again. I love you._

_~Yuffie Kisaragi_

Then, at the bottom, in a different handwriting:

_Remember: you will be the one to open the door to the light._

"The door to light." I whispered.

A flash of light occurred.

I stood up. I was standing waist deep in the ocean. I looked around.

"HEY!"

I whirled, and faced the shore. There on the shore, was the most beautiful woman in the world.

Yuffie.

I ran through the water as fast as I could, rushing. Frostmourne smirked, and followed at a more dignified pace.

When I reached within five feet of Yuffie, I was tackled by several people. Rodney, C, Ashley, Nudge, Xanju, and Nhoxj.

Ansem, Trufflehunter, Xsirch, Namine, and the King stayed back, more dignified. Another man, Nexus, aka Delorian Nappi, aka Kobe, also stood with them.

"Well, we're back!" I said cheerfully, staring up into Yuffie's eyes from my prone position beneath a dog-pile of Rodney, C, Ashley, Nudge, Xanju, and Nhoxj.

Yuffie extended her hand. I lifted mine. In it was the headband she had given me over a year ago.

"Chris!" Xsirch ran up. "ME and Namine are getting married and going to live in Twilight Town!"

"Marriage… Sounds like a good idea." I winked. Then I paid my full attention to Yuffie's lips. When we finally surfaced, we could do nothing but stare into one another's eyes.

"You're home." Yuffie smiled.

"Actually, we're not. There aren't any beaches this good in New York." I said, standing up and sweeping her into my arms. "We're in New Jersey."


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter Twenty-Two: Chris Talonflight: Love

I and Yuffie were, per say, on our honeymoon. We had just finished a romantic dinner, and had just arrived back at our hotel. We were vacationing in Destiny Islands.

Yuffie was staring at my lips.

"What?" I brushed my lips, thinking that I had food on them or something. Then her mouth was on mine, and somehow she was instantly on my lap, straddling me, and her hands were on my back, in my hair, on my face, always pulling me closer, demanding to be closer then clothes would allow. Her eyes closed as our tongues danced wetly around each other. When I surfaced from her kiss, her eyes were warm pools of desire, reflecting only me. Somehow her hair had become disheveled, but it had never been more perfect. I'd surfaced for a reason, but I HAD to kiss the curve of her neck, so I did–and her throaty murmur demanded more kisses, which I gave gladly. My lips followed the curve of her lips downwards, and then her hand was behind my head, pulling it down towards her sumptuous breasts.

_Damn, this girl knows what she wants. I guess Johnson must have taught her a thing or three. What is Chris the Virgin doesn't measure up?_

It was like catching a lake of cold water on my lap. I must have tensed, because Yuffie pulled back.

_Now I've spoiled everything._ It wasn't just one moment I had destroyed; I could well have destroyed the easy, unfettered spirit of her sensuality. Every time we made love she would feel conscious of me thinking: _did she learn this from Johnson? Was Johnson better?_ Yuffie had once been repeatedly forced to pleasure Johnson against her will; but I knew that at first, what she had felt for him was real, even if it had long since died away.

"I'm sorry." Yuffie said. She swallowed, and I could see her wilting inside.

I breathed. "I forgive you." She moved to get off of my lap, but I held her there. It wasn't an emotion so much as a decision. I forgave her, even of the things that weren't her fault. Our love was too precious to let the past destroy it.

"Yuffie," I said as I had said the night she had first started to have feelings for me. "Yuffie, will you kiss me?"

She smiled, and laughed, and almost cried—and kissed me, still laughing. She pulled away, and beat her fists on my chest.

"What?" I asked, surprised.

"You can't do this to me! I can't feel all this at once!" Yuffie laughed.

"Then just feel this."

I kissed her again, softly, slowly drawing her in, and in the pleasant blur of minutes that followed, we rebuilt out passion. The thoughts came buzzing like flies, but I ignored them. As our kisses became more heated, those thoughts, all thoughts, dimmed into the background and disappeared altogether beneath the scents of lavender and faint sweat and her breath, and the feel of her weight on my lap and her hands on my body and my hands on her. She moved her hips against me.

I jumped to my feet. Eyes wide, I cleared my throat.

"The bedroom can't be far." I said. "If you can wait five minutes-"

Yuffie grabbed me. We didn't wait.


	23. Secret Ending

_**SECRET ENDING**_

Ashley Luciano Lightbringer, wielder of the keyblade Lurebreaker, was standing at a computer console.

"Are the rebel forces mobilized?" She asked.

A nearby creature answered her. It was made completely up of light, with two eyes of darkness peering out of it. "Yes, milady, they are in position. Shall I tell the rest of the Harbingers to strike now?"

"Yes." Ashley said.

Then the door to the room slammed open.

Framed in the doorway was a figure. He stood roughly Six foot one, had short black hair, and was wearing an intricate armor set. It had a single black shoulder-plate of armor, with black pointy armor running down the left arm, and covering the hand, with four slots. The shoulder plate had a Heartless symbol inside an O with a diagonal line through it, in the classic "NO" symbol. The torso of the outfit was black leather, along with the legs, which had some black armor on them too, with more strange red slots in them. The right arm was sleeveless, but there was a long fingerless glove that reached his elbow, and a trio of arm-bands to fill the remaining space. The look on his face was that of a death god. Behind him sprouted two powerful wings: One an angel's wing, the other a bat wing.

Carried in his arms was a still figure. She was wearing short-shorts, boots that came up to her knees, a sleeveless shirt that left her stomach revealed, and a black headband. Her hair was short, but hung down to her chin. Her purple eyes were clouded in death. A giant shuriken still hung from her right hand, and a keyblade formed out of a giant shuriken in her left hand.

Chris spoke, still holding the corpse of Yuffie. "Why did you do it?"

Ashley merely sniffed, and pressed a button. Instantly, a group of the creatures of light with dark eyes appeared around Chris.

Chris gently placed Yuffie on the floor. Then, two weapons formed in his hands. One was a bat-winged sword; the other was an angel-winged sword. He spun in a circle, decapitating most of the creatures of light. He turned, and slashed again, killing the remaining ones. He returned his attention to Ashley.

"Your Harbinger's can't stop me." Chris spoke in a dangerous tone. "Now answer me. Why did you do it?"

"I did it because it needed to be done." She said. "She would have tried to stop me."

"You know that I will not stop until you are dead." Chris spoke. "You killed Yuffie. You killed Rodney. You killed Frostmourne. You will pay for what you have done to my friends. Your friends."

"Aren't I your friend?" Ashley asked.

"Not anymore." Chris growled. He slashed at Ashley. Immediately, she disappeared into a portal of light. Chris looked at a nearby computer. On it was a blueprint of how to access Kingdom Hearts.

"My god…" Chris growled.

Ashley's voice was heard once more. Her voice echoed.

"Let the truly last, completing, ending, and FINAL fantasy begin."

"**Prepare yourself. You have been given the understanding. Now it is time." **

**It started with Disk One, a remnant of a Dark Inquisitor come to haunt the worlds and cover them in darkness. The keyblade wielders stopped him. You read Kingdom Hearts: Disk One: Light of Happiness (at least, I hope you did…).**

**It rose to a new level in Disk Two, a travelling keyblade warrior following a written sequence of events, hoping against hope that it would turn out all right. You read Kingdom Hearts: Disk Two: Quiet of the Ascension (Maybe. It was quite good, but personally I think it lacked all of the emotional depth…).**

**Heartbreak was found in Disk Three, when a teen without emotions learned to love someone… and how to lose them. You read Kingdom Hearts: Disk Three: Nothing is Sacred (Okay, this wasn't one I was really proud of, so I wouldn't blame you if you skipped it…).**

**Vengeance and love was culminated in Disk Four, with the coming together of many different beings to stop the worlds being engulfed by the Deep Nothing. You read Kingdom Hearts: Disk Four: Sound of the Rising Storm (Obviously, because you're reading this). **

**Prepare yourself for the fifth and final disk, coming soon to … **

**Kingdom Hearts: Disk Five: Towards the Ultimate Fantasy.**


End file.
